MERIDIAN, Miss. (AP) — The shooting of a judge outside a Mississippi courthouse remains unsolved, so now officials have increased the reward for information leading to an arrest.
Police said Chancery Judge Charlie Smith was shot near his abdomen as he was leaving his truck to enter the Lauderdale County Courthouse on March 16. He has been recovering after initially being hospitalized in critical condition.
The East Mississippi Crime Stoppers program is now offering $32,000 in rewards for tips, news outlets reported Tuesday. That’s up from from the original $15,000 approved by the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors in late March. The new amount also includes $5,000 from the Clarke County Board of Supervisors and additional funds raised by private citizens, Lauderdale County Chief Deputy Ward Calhoun told The Meridian Star.
Investigators think the shooting was an isolated event that was personally “directed toward” Smith, according to Meridian’s Interim Police Chief, Lewis Robbins.
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