Published: September 19, 2007 01:43 pm      

Lufkinite dies next to grave

By Kelly Young

news@jacksonvilleprogress.com

A Lufkin man was shot and killed Monday afternoon after opening fire on a pair of Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department deputies. Allen Lee Wallace, 50, was killed near his mother’s grave site in the Sardis Cemetery off County Road 2218.

The incident began at approximately 1:50 p.m. when CCSD dispatch received a welfare concern call.

“We received a call from family members of Wallace who felt that he was in route to the family cemetery and was planning to do harm to himself. When my first officer arrived at the cemetery he saw a pickup truck parked across the road, blocking it,” said Sheriff James Campbell. “From that location he was able to locate a man sitting in a folding lawn chair near a headstone.”

A second deputy then arrived at the scene and approached the other two men. Wallace indicated to the officers that he intended to commit suicide.

“My officers were attempting to talk him out of harming himself when he reached down and picked up a pistol from the ground, and pointed it toward one of my officers in a threatening manner,” Campbell said.

Fearing for their safety, the officers then opened fire on Wallace, striking him at least once. EMS and a LifeFlight helicopter responded to the cemetery, but Wallace died at the scene. Neither CCSD deputy was hit during the fire fight.

Judge Teresa Phifer, justice of the peace for Precinct No. 2, called for in inquest into Wallace’s death, and sent the body to Southwest Forensics in Dallas for an autopsy. It will take several days for the results of the toxicology report to come back, but alcohol was found at the scene.

“We believe that everything was handled properly at the scene by the deputies, but of course it is common sense to have another department do the investigation,” Campbell said. “One of the deputies had Tuesday off anyway, and the other one was given the day off. When they return, they will be given light duty until they feel they are ready.”

Rudy Flores of the Texas Rangers, out of Palestine, is handling the investigation into Wallace’s death.