Ohio Judge Shot, Injured Outside Courthouse

STEUBENVILLE, OH — An Ohio judge who city officials say was ambushed in a shooting as he walked to the Jefferson County Courthouse in Steubenville Monday morning fired back at the suspect, City Manager James Mavromatis told local reporters.

The judge injured in the shooting was identified by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine as Common Pleas Judge Joseph J. Bruzzese Jr. At least one suspect died in the shooting incident, DeWine said in a statement.

Mavromatis told reporters that the judge was shot as he walked to the courthouse and referred to the shooting as an "ambush." He added the shooting was deliberate and there was no further threat to the public.

Bruzzese fired back at the suspect as did a probation officer standing behind the judge. The Herald Star reported that the probation officer, who happened upon the gunfire between the suspect and the judge, shot and killed the suspect.

Sheriff Fred Abdalla said Bruzzese and the shooter appeared to have exchanged about five shots, the Herald Star reported. A man who was in the car with the alleged shooter was grazed by a bullet and he told officials he had been unaware of what was happening.

“The judge was shot in front of the courthouse and it effects me," Abdalla said, as quoted by the Herald Star. "It is an attempted murder on a judge.”

Abdalla added that he felt judges and prosecutors in America should be armed and called the shooting "a cold-blooded attempted murder on a judge."

The courthouse has been shut down for the day.

DeWine said Steubenville police have requested the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation to investigate the shooting. BCI has assigned its special investigations, crime scene and cyber units to the investigation.

“Fran and I are praying for Judge Bruzzese and his family at this difficult time,” DeWine said in a statement.

Bruzzese is out of surgery at UPMC in Pittsburgh and is said to be "doing fine."

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