Alabama Standoff Ends With Murder Suspect, Police Officer Shot Dead

A standoff in Alabama ended in the deaths of both a police officer and the suspect.

Mobile Police Officer Justin Billa was shot and killed following an hours-long standoff on the night of Tuesday, Feb. 20, the Daily Mail reports. Billa, who had responded to the home of suspected murderer Robert Hollie, 72, was taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

The standoff had started after the body of 58-year-old Fonda Poellantz was found shot to death in the middle of the road earlier that day. Hollie, who was Poellantz’s ex-husband, was immediately identified as a person of interest in her murder.

Hollie barricaded himself inside of his home when officers arrived, prompting a SWAT team to set up a perimeter around his property. About two hours later, the 72-year-old opened fire on officers, fatally striking Billa.

The standoff ended at 2:45 a.m., and Hollie was discovered dead inside of his home, though it is not yet known if he died of a self-inflicted injury or if he was struck when officers returned fire.

Billa had been on the force for two years, joining in 2016, and previously named the department’s officer of the month in June of that year. He was received a commendation for investigating a string of robberies by a man who he later arrest.

“We need to go back to helping people instead of just taking them to jail and creating bigger problems. That’s my ideal of good policing and I feel like that’s what the chief is working toward,” Billa said in July 2017 when he was interviewed by a local news station for a segment on the police force’s relationship with the community.

Mobile Police Chief Lawrence Battiste was unable to offer information on Billa or the circumstances surrounding his death.

Billa leaves behind a wife and a 1-year-old son.