A Mobile, Ala., police officer was stabbed to death Friday afternoon and another was wounded by a bullet as a robbery suspect attempted to escape custody. The suspect was later shot to death.
According Officer Down Memorial Page, www.odmp.org, the officer was identified as Steven Green who had served with the Mobile Police Department for the past 20 months.
The local newspaper in Mobile, The Press-Register, reports that Green was transporting Lawrence Wallace Jr., 24, the robbery suspect, to the Mobile County Metro Jail when Wallace stabbed Green and then drove off in Green’s patrol car.
Police gave pursuit and Wallace abandoned the patrol car off Dauphin Island Parkway and hid under a house, Mobile Cpl. Christopher Levy told the newspaper.
Mark Johnson, a second mobile police officer, was shot and wounded in the arm during the pursuit, the paper reported.
Green was pronounced dead at the University of South Alabama Medical Center where he was taken after receiving the fatal stab wound, according to the news account. Officer Johnson was released from the hospital after treatment of his injury.
After the suspect had hidden under the residence, police surrounded the home and shot canisters of tear gas to drive him out of hiding. Wallace was fatally shot at the scene and pronounced dead, according to the newspaper.
The incident began when Wallace attempted to rob a dollar store, lighting the store’s checkout counter on fire with lighter fluid, according to ODMP. An off-duty officer tackled him and took him into custody.
Fallen Officer Green was on assignment in the city’s fifth precinct and was married with three children.
