An Alabama judge was left in critical condition Saturday after being shot by the son of a convicted felon during a heated argument, police said.
According to the sheriff’s office, Khalfani Hardwick is suspected of fatally shooting his father, Judge Johnny Hardwick, presiding judge of the Montgomery County 15th Judicial Circuit, inside their home in Montgomery just after 1 p.m.
The circumstances that led to the “domestic incident” remain a mystery, but investigators quickly named Khalfani Hardwick, a murderer who avoided prison time for a murder 10 years ago, as the shooter.
“Judge Hardwick was involved in a domestic incident with his son and sustained serious gunshot wounds,” Chief of Staff Wesley Richerson told the Post.
The 36-year-old inmate suspected of shooting and killing his father fled in a truck and abandoned it near a local fire station, just eight miles from his home.
He was found just 45 minutes later, just a mile from the abandoned vehicle.
Khalfani Hardwick was taken into custody as a suspect but has not yet been charged.
Richerson said her father had undergone at least one surgery and was being treated for “serious injuries.”
Police have not been able to say what led to the violence or how many times Judge Hardwich was shot.
Khalfani Hardwick has a history of violence, including shooting and killing another man in 2014.
The judge’s son admitted shooting Clayton Riley in the head, killing him, in exchange for an attempted murder charge being downgraded to second-degree assault.
Khalfani Hardwick’s father, who was a sitting judge at the time, served no prison term in the case. WFSA reported.
Judge Hardwick has served on the 15th Circuit since 2001 and was appointed president of the Alabama Circuit Court Judges Association last August.
