An Alabama police officer who was seriously wounded in a shooting that killed another officer is improving, officials said Wednesday as they made plans to remember the fallen man.
Officer Webb Sistrunk has been moved into critical care at a hospital in Columbus, Georgia, according to a statement released by the Auburn Police Division. The change was an improvement because Sistrunk had been in in intensive care.
Sistrunk and two other officers were shot in at a mobile home park in Auburn on Sunday night. Officer William Buechner was killed, and another officer suffered a less severe wound.
Grady Wayne Wilkes, 29, is jailed on charges including capital murder and attempted murder in the shootings. Wilkes, who leads an infantry combat team with the Alabama National Guard, is being held without bail.
The statement relayed by police from Piedmont Columbus Hospital said Sistrunk was shot in the right shoulder. He will continue to undergo a number of medical procedures, it said.
Sistrunk is a canine officer, and he received a visit in the hospital from his dog partner, Leon. The animal was at the scene of the shooting, but wasn't injured.
"It's really good. He's my best friend," Sistrunk said in a video released by the hospital.
Meanwhile, the city of Auburn said the funeral for Buechner would be held Friday afternoon at the Auburn Arena.
Court documents show officers were called to a mobile home park Sunday night by a woman who identified Wilkes as her live-in boyfriend and the father of her child. Meeting with officers away from their home, she said the man had threatened to kill her, according to the complaint.
The shooting began after police went to the couple's trailer.
"Officers knocked on the door and Wilkes answered the door wearing body armor and was armed with a rifle. After Wilkes opened the door he immediately began firing at the officers," the document said.
An attorney appointed to represent Wilkes, William Whatley, declined comment.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Yemen's Houthi rebels on Saturday claimed shooting down another of the U.S. military's MQ-9 Reaper drones, airing footage of parts that corresponded to known pieces of the unmanned aircraft.
The Houthis said they shot down the Reaper with a surface-to-air missile, part of a renewed series of assaults this week by the rebels after a relative lull in their pressure campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry, a Defense Department spokesperson, acknowledged to The Associated Press on Saturday that “a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen.” He said an investigation was underway, without elaborating.
The Houthis described the downing as happening Thursday over their stronghold in the country's Saada province.
Footage released by the Houthis included what they described as the missile launch targeting the drone, with a man off-camera reciting the Houthi's slogan after it was hit: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”
The footage included several close-ups on parts of the drone that included the logo of General Atomics, which manufactures the drone, and serial numbers corresponding with known parts made by the company.
Since the Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the U.S. military has lost at least five drones to the rebels counting Thursday's shootdown — in 2017, 2019, 2023 and this year.
Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land.
The drone shootdown comes as the Houthis launch attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, demanding Israel ends the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.
The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.
Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of the U.S.-led campaign against them and after firing drones and missiles steadily in the last months. However, the rebels have renewed their attacks in the last week.
A Houthi supporter raises a mock rocket during a rally against the U.S. and Israel and to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
