In a tragic turn of events, Lieutenant Moitt Brenton Truitt, Jr., a 27-year-old male officer with the Opelika Police Department, was killed in the line of duty. He had served with the department for seven years. The fatal incident occurred when Lieutenant Truitt and other officers responded to a request to check on an individual at a residence who had not been heard from for some time.
Upon arrival, a relative of the resident gained entry to the house by crawling through a window and
then unlocking a door. Lieutenant Truitt followed the relative inside, announcing his presence as a police officer while searching for the person they had come to check on. As he proceeded through the house, he opened the door to a bedroom. At that moment, he was struck at close range by a shotgun blast.
The shooter was the resident of the house, George Findley. It was later reported that Findley had been drinking for several days and was suffering from delirium tremens. Following the shooting of Lieutenant Truitt, other responding officers exchanged gunfire with Findley, during which he was wounded.
Lieutenant Truitt was transported to Lee County Hospital, now known as East Alabama Medical Center, where he succumbed to the fatal gunshot wound. George Findley was apprehended at the scene and subsequently arrested and charged with murder. He was later convicted and received a life sentence. As a condition of his sentence, he was ordered to never return to Lee County, Alabama.
