Ex-Marine in Alabama fatally shoots wife and wounds himself in the head before surrendering to SWAT unit: police

A former Marine allegedly shot and killed his wife in a doctor’s office and later shot himself in the head before surrendering to nearly 150 state and local law enforcement officers called to the scene on Monday morning in Jemison, Ala., according to reports.

Authorities have charged Eric Heath Price, 26, who is currently receiving treatment at the nearby University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital, with the murder of his wife, Leaj Jarvis Price, 24, AL.com reported.

The Jemison Police Department received a report of a shooting at Jemison Internal Medicine at 9:17 a.m., Jemison Police Chief Shane Fulmer told reporters at a televised press conference. The alleged victim had burst into the doctor’s office from the couple’s home right behind the office in the small town and implored the six or seven members of the staff present to “call the police,” Fulmer said.

 

But her husband immediately followed her in and allegedly hit her with a single gunshot before he ran home and  Price then took to Facebook as he waited out authorities, writing in subsequently-deleted suicidal posts, “[I’m] sorry everyone, its been real, good bye and [I] love you all” and “I dei [sic] today,” according to AL.com. 

 

Approximately 150 officers arrived to the scene and placed the area on lockdown as a SWAT unit from the Chilton County Sheriff’s Department took over an almost-three hour standoff to capture the suspect, Fulmer said.

Negotiators spoke with Price by phone before he cut off contact and the tactical response team fired tear gas into the home, Chilton County Sheriff John Shearon said. The suspect then came out and gave himself over to authorities at 12:24 p.m. with no shots fired by law enforcement during the entire incident, Shearon noted.

 

“He exited, and we took the suspect down in the yard,” Shearon told reporters at the press conference, according to video from WBRC-TV. “He was suffering from one self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.”

Authorities said on Monday that they would continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the disturbing incident. The couple’s 6-year-old son was in school and out of harm’s way on Monday, police said. But the alleged victim had pressed for child support for the boy in November at Chilton County Circuit Court, according to AL.com.

With the massive police presence, nobody else was at risk as the events played out on Monday, Shearon said.

“It looks like this is going to be just an isolated incident, just a tragic thing,” Shearon told reporters. “Our hearts and prayers go out to that family.”