Alabama Teen Charged With Murder After Shooting Sheriff Who Asked Him To Turn Music Down

The sheriff, who is black, was allegedly shot in the head.

In Alabama, a man has been charged with murder after shooting and killing a sheriff at a gas station.

In a report from the Montgomery Advertiser, Lowndes County Sheriff "Big John" Williams (a black man) was fatally shot Saturday night at a convenience store. Williams approached a truck because the music was loud, and asked the driver — later identified as William Chase Johnson — to turn down his music because it was so loud. That's when Johnson allegedly shot Williams in the head.

"Big John comes up and asks the young man about the loud music, just like he has done hundreds of times before. Big John don't take no foolishness," Charles Benson, a witness, said. "That's when he got shot. I don't understand it. The sheriff is gone over loud music? It just don't seem right."

The 18-year-old Johnson (who is white) was arrested around midnight Saturday after he returned to that same gas station where Williams was shot. A handgun was retrieved from the teen, according to CNN. Johnson, who is the son of a Montgomery County sheriff's deputy, is currently being held without bond in Elmore County Jail.

"We in Alabama's law enforcement community mourn the loss of a dedicated brother," Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Secretary Hal Taylor said in a Sunday statement in regards to Williams' death. "Not only was Lowndes County Sheriff 'Big John' Williams a committed man of the law, but he was kind and loved by many."

Source: Montgomery Advertiser