AUBURN, Ala. — The suspect in an Auburn officer's shooting and a woman who was traveling with him are both dead after an apartment fire that followed a standoff with police.
According to NBC affiliate WSFA, police were originally searching for 38-year-old Christopher James Wallace who they believed was the man responsible for shooting the officer near a Dollar General on Opelika Road.
WSFA reported that agencies across the state were notified of the incident and some even released a photo of Wallace. Auburn University Campus Police said the shooting didn't happen on the campus but issued a warning to students.
After a massive search, the station reported several officers descending on an apartment complex near the campus on Wire Road - not far from Auburn University's College of Veterinary Medicine. Investigators had apparently learned that both the suspect and the woman were at a relative's apartment there.
But when officers tried to enter the apartment, Wallace allegedly fired at officers who then returned fire. Wallace and the suspect refused to leave and officers eventually used tear gas at the location. Police said that, at some point, a fire started and both Wallace and the woman died as the apartment burned.