An Ohio judge was shot in what appeared to be an ambush attack outside the courthouse. He responded by firing back at his attacker.
Judge Joseph J. Bruzzese, Jr., who presides over the Jefferson County Court of Common Pleas in Steubenville, OH, was walking into the courthouse when he was shot by an unidentified male. Bruzzese proceeded to fire his own gun five times at the shooter; they fired their guns five times each.
Eventually, the shooter was killed by a nearby probation officer. The judge was taken to a hospital in Pittsburgh for surgery and is in stable condition. He is expected to survive.
It’s not clear what the motive of the shooter was, but a man who was reportedly in the same vehicle as the shooter said that they had been consuming alcohol on Sunday night and the shooter was scheduled to appear in court that morning. That man has been taken into custody, although he’s claiming that he didn’t know what was happening during the shooting.
Another judge in the county, Judge Joseph Corabi, believed that the shooting was a planned attack since the shooter had to have known that judges have reserved parking spots nearby the courthouse and they have to walk through “Courthouse Alley” before entering the courthouse.
Sheriff Fred Abdalla told reporters that he was shaken by the shooting and that all judges should protect themselves with firearms.
“Every judge should be armed today in America,” said Abdalla. “Prosecutors need to be armed. It was a cold-blooded attempted murder on a judge.”
Abdalla added that it had not been for the probation officer, “the shooter would have kept shooting until the judge was dead.”
Prior to his current position, Bruzzese was a judge in Wintersville and is an alumnus of Ohio Northern University.
The name of the shooter is expected to be released later on Monday.
UPDATE: The shooter has been identified as Nathaniel Richmond. His son, Ma’lik Richmond, was convicted of high school rape in 2013. It’s unclear if the shooting is related to the conviction.
.png)
.png)
