AUBURN, Alabama—Auburn University has announced that a man suspected of killing one Auburn police officer and wounding two others near campus has been arrested in Alabama around 9 a.m. on Monday, May 20, less than 12 hours after the shooting triggered a manhunt.
Auburn Campus Safety made an “ALL CLEAR” announcement on Twitter and said police reported the suspect was in custody.
Oxford Police Chief Bill Partridge confirmed the capture on Twitter, where he posted a mugshot of the suspect with the word “captured” across his face.
Authorities had been searching for 29-year-old Grady Wayne Wilkes, who they said was armed and wearing camouflage body armor and a helmet.
Police said Wilkes opened fire on officers who responded late Sunday night to a reported domestic disturbance at a mobile home park.
A law enforcement command center has been set at up Auburn University, which is warning students to stay away from a mobile home park about five miles from campus.
“When officers arrived a suspect opened fire on the officers, striking three of them. Two of the officers suffered critical injuries and one suffered nonlife-threatening injuries. One officer was airlifted to a Columbus, GA hospital. The other two were transported via ground ambulance to East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika where one of those officers died from his injuries. The names of the officers are not being released at this time pending notification of all family members and all of the police family.”
Police said the shooting was a tragedy in a press conference but declined to describe the events leading up to the shooting, apart from naming it as a domestic disturbance call that the officers responded to, or the names of the victims.
“This is probably the worst day of my time here,” Paul Register, Auburn chief of police, said Monday at a news conference. “Words cannot express the loss of this family, our family and this community.”
