Auburn officer’s death prompts Alabama’s first ‘BLUE Alert’
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AUBURN, Ala. (WSFA) - The shooting of three east Alabama police officers, including one fatally, late Sunday night prompted the first ever issuance of a ‘BLUE Alert’ in Alabama history.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s Alabama Fusion Center issued the alert at the request of the Auburn Police Department after a domestic violence call to police erupted in gunfire at an area mobile home park.
Killed in the line of duty was veteran Officer William Buechner (pronounced Beek-ner) and injuries to Officer Webb Sistrunk and Office Evan Elliott.
The alert was sent out in the early Monday morning hours as a manhunt sought the suspect who fled the scene. That suspect, later identified as 29-year-old local resident Grady Wayne Wilkes, was captured around 7 a.m. Monday about a mile from the scene of the shooting.
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"Our hearts are heavy at ALEA, said ALEA Secretary Hal Taylor, “and our prayers are with Auburn Police Department family...”
BLUE Alerts are possible when a local, state, or federal law enforcement officer in Alabama has been killed or seriously injured and the perpetrator is at large.
The state enacted legislation making a BLUE Alert possible in 2012, but it had never been used until now.
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