Suspect in shooting that injured Lee County deputy identified as Guatemalan national

LEE COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA) - The person who died in a shooting involving Lee County deputies in Loachapoka Wednesday evening is now identified.

According to Lee County Coroner Daniel Sexton, Wilder Cobon Gomez, 36, a Guatemalan national, was the man killed in the exchange.

It is unclear whether Gomez was a U.S. citizen.

“We are working in close partnership with HSI and with our ICE partners in the federal law enforcement area to get as much detail as we can in regard to the origin of this individual and any other connections that may be involved,” Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones explained.

Gomez’s body will be transported to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences’ Montgomery Medical Facility for an autopsy.

The sheriff told WSFA the shooting happened around 5:34 p.m. while deputies were serving a rape warrant at a home in the 900 block of County Road 188 in Loachapoka.

Authorities responded to the area after receiving a notification from a student resource officer at Loachapoka High School about recurring sexual assault incidents involving a woman and her boyfriend, now identified as Gomez.

According to the sheriff’s office, the victim - an adult woman - notified the SRO that Gomez had held her against her will and sexually assaulted her multiple times.

The SRO deputy notified the investigations unit, which began an investigation immediately.

According to Lee County Lt. Pamela Revels, who serves as the President of the National Association of School Resource Officers, it’s not unusual for a parent to reach out to an SRO due to their visibility in the community.

“Once you’re embedded in a school, they learn you, they know you, and they trust you,” she explained. “When they trust you, they’ll tell you. When they tell you, that’s when prevention and intervention happen and that’s what we want.”

After a preliminary investigation, Jones said the sheriff’s office gathered enough information to establish probable cause to have a warrant issued for first-degree rape, a Class A felony.

The Lee County Sheriff’s office says Gomez began firing at deputies when they confronted him at the home. During the exchange, a deputy was struck in the arm. Gomez was killed by return fire.

That deputy underwent surgery Thursday and is in stable condition.

“He’s in good spirits, he’s of course in pain, but he was conscious, alert, talking,” Jones said, recalling the conversation he had with the deputy late Wednesday. “His wife and parents were there.”

The sheriff also said a 3-year-old boy was in the room where the gunfire exchange happened but was not injured.

“It is the child of the adult female Hispanic victim,” Jones explained.

If you would like to donate to the deputy and aid in his recovery, the sheriff says to check social media in the coming days for a way to do so.

The identity of the injured deputy remains concealed at this time.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s SBI Division is investigating the circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting.

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