Son breaks into parents’ house and shoots deputies who come for welfare check, cops say
Two Alabama deputies were shot during a welfare check after a man broke into his parents’ home, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said.
The parents of John Thomason, 31, were out of town when they called police to perform a welfare check at their Meadowbrook home on March 22, ABC reported.
Shelby County Sheriff John Samaniego told ABC the parents believed their adult son was in town and that he might try to break into their home.
Deputies arrived at the house around 9:30 a.m. and saw signs of forced entry, according to a Shelby County Sheriff’s Office news release.
Four deputies entered the house through the back door that had been broken and began to search the house, AL.com reported.
The deputies found Thomason in an upstairs bathroom and started to negotiate with him to come out of the house, Samaniego told ABC.
“At that point, without warning, (he) fired on deputies, hitting two deputies,” Samaniego told ABC.
One of the deputies returned fire but did not hit the suspect, AL.com reported.
The deputies who were shot were rushed to a hospital with “serious but non-life threatening injuries,” according to the release.
The remaining deputies negotiated with Thomason, and eventually he surrendered, deputies said.
Thomason was booked into the Shelby County jail and is charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of criminal trespass, jail records show.
He is being held on a bond of more than $1 million.
Both deputies were released from the hospital on the evening of March 22, AL.com reported.
Meadowbrook is 13 miles outside Birmingham.
This story was originally published March 23, 2023 at 7:19 PM with the headline "Son breaks into parents’ house and shoots deputies who come for welfare check, cops say."
