WILLIAMSON, W.Va. (AP) — Just months before being gunned down, Sheriff Eugene Crum made good on a campaign promise to do what many in law enforcement have attempted for years in southern West Virginia — crack down on drugs, especially the illegal sale of prescription pills.
In three months and two days on the job, he'd already helped indict dozens of suspected drug dealers through Mingo County's new Operation Zero Tolerance. Authorities haven't said whether that crusade was related to his shooting death at mid-day on a Williamson street Wednesday, but residents and county officials suspect it.
Crum's team has targeted people "who spread the disease of addiction among our residents," said County Commission President John Mark Hubbard.
Resident Jerry Cline stood near the site of the slaying hours later, the drug crackdown clearly at the forefront of his thoughts.
"He told them right before he got in as sheriff, 'If you're dealing drugs, I'm coming after you. I'm cleaning this town up,'" Cline said. "... He got out just to do one thing, and that's to clean this town up. That's all that man tried to do."
Authorities were mum on any motive and the connection between Crum and their suspect, 37-year-old Tennis Melvin Maynard, and did not announce what charges he would face. A Mingo deputy shot and wounded Maynard after a chase and after the suspect pulled a weapon, state police said.
