News

WV Sheriff Murder Suspect Charged

By:
Posted on:

< < Back to

UPDATE 5:11 p.m. Police say witnesses told investigators that a West Virginia man was alone when he fatally shot a sheriff eating lunch in his patrol car.
    
Mingo County Drug Task Force Commander and Williamson Chief of Police Dave Rockel says police still don't know why Tennis Melvin Maynard shot Sheriff Eugene Crum. But they don't believe Maynard had an accomplice.
    
Rockel says Williamson police have charged the 37-year-old Maynard with first-degree murder. State Police have charged Maynard with attempted murder for allegedly pulling a gun on a sheriff's deputy who then shot and wounded him.
    
Rockel says Maynard remains at a Huntington hospital.
    
Maynard's father, Melvin Maynard, has said his son suffered from mental health problems and did not have a vendetta against law enforcement.
 


UPDATE 11:55 a.m. The father of the man suspected of killing a West Virginia sheriff says his son has mental health problems and doesn't have a vendetta against police.
    
Melvin Maynard said Thursday that his son Tennis Melvin Maynard,37,  developed mental issues after he was exposed to chemicals on a job in Alabama.
    
The elder Maynard would not elaborate on what kind of mental health problems his son had. But he says he believes his son would have shot the first person he saw.
    
Tennis Maynard is accused of fatally shooting Mingo County Sheriff Eugene Crum on Wednesday in Williamson. A deputy shot Maynard in Delbarton after he crashed his car into a bridge during a chase.
    
State Police have charged Maynard with attempted murder for allegedly pulling a gun on the deputy.


UPDATE 10:51 a.m. State Police have charged the man accused of killing a West Virginia sheriff with attempted murder for allegedly pulling a gun on a deputy who chased and eventually shot him.

State Police Sgt. Michael Baylous said charges for the slaying of Mingo County Sheriff Eugene Crum will be filed separately by the Williamson Police Department.

The suspect is 37-year-old Tennis Melvin Maynard.

He was shot in Delbarton after crashing his car into a bridge during the chase with a deputy.

Authorities say he is being treated at Cabell Huntington Hospital in Huntington, but they have not commented on his condition.

Hospital spokesman Charles Shumaker refused to comment or confirm whether Maynard was a patient Thursday, citing federal privacy laws.


State police say the man suspected of gunning down a West Virginia sheriff pulled a weapon on a deputy who shot him.

Authorities didn't reveal the condition of the suspect, Tennis Melvin Maynard. West Virginia State Police Capt. David Nelson said Maynard, 37, was taken to a local hospital where he remained Wednesday evening.

Nelson said Maynard crashed into a bridge, held up a gun as he got out of the vehicle and was shot.

State police say Maynard is suspected of killing Mingo County Sheriff Eugene Crum. The sheriff was gunned down Wednesday in the spot where he usually parked and ate lunch in Williamson.

Crum was elected last year and has been cracking down on the drug trade, but it's unclear whether his death was related to the new Operation Zero Tolerance.