A man was fatally shot at close range by a suspect identified as, 24-year-old William B. Wells, WAPT News reported. The victim, 37-year-old Kendrick Armond Brown, was awaiting trial outside the Madison County Courthouse. Brown was on trial for charges of dealing cocaine and previous drug-related cases. He was indicted on Feb. 10 of this year, according to CTV News.
According to the investigators of the Madison County Sheriff's Department, Wells drove by before 9 a.m. when the courthouse opened. Authorities said he got out of the truck, and walked to the victim on the sidewalk with a semiautomatic handgun, and shot him right in the chest. Brown died on the scene.
Attorney Michael Guest of the Madison County District said that they have no idea why Wells would shoot Brown.
Further investigation revealed that Wells' mother was shot two days before the courthouse incident. Police Chief Otha Brown of Canton said the unnamed woman drove herself to the police station to report that she was shot. She was moved to a hospital in an ambulance afterwards, WAPT added.
The Canton Police Department is located just approximately 200 yards from the courthouse. Guest said that the officers present at the time could have probably done nothing to prevent the incident from occurring. He said, "There would have been, in my opinion, no way this could have been stopped," according to Quad-Cities Online.
According to Canton's Fire Chief Andrew Hughes, Wells was a firefighter and quit a year ago. Alberta Luckett, who admitted to being Wells' girlfriend, knew Wells since they were in high school. "He's a good guy," she said. "I don't know what happened."
Sheriff Randy Tucker of Madison County, stated that the suspect is already in custody of the Madison County Jail, according to WMGT.
