Millbrook PD Investigate Possible Attempted Murder-Suicide

On Thursday, May 19, 2016, at approximately 7:16 AM, Millbrook Police and Fire Rescue units responded to the 200 block of Fraley Lane with regard to a subject shot. Officers located a white female, 77 years of age, who suffered from what appeared to be two gunshot wounds to her upper torso.

The victim was alert and able to advise responding officers that she’d been shot by her husband, who was still at their residence near-by. She was able to leave their residence and seek assistance from a neighbor. The victim was treated by paramedics at the scene and transported to Baptist South Emergency Room for treatment and evaluation and was listed in stable condition.

Millbrook police established a perimeter around the suspect’s residence, located in the 100 block of Country Place Drive. Police attempted to establish contact with the suspect, who refused repeated attempts by officers to communicate. At that point officers considered the suspect barricaded and armed. Elements of the Millbrook Police Department’s Special Operations Unit and the Elmore County Sheriff’s Department’s SOU responded to the scene to assist, as did several United States Deputy Marshals.

During a brief standoff officers heard a single gunshot. Officers were able to introduce a robot into the residence and were able to ascertain that the suspect was incapacitated. Officers made entry and confirmed the suspect appeared deceased, suffering from an apparent self inflicted gunshot wound.

No other individuals were located inside the residence. The victim was pronounced as deceased at the scene. The suspect was identified as Hugh Langdale Jr., a white male, 78 years of age.

Chief P.K. Johnson was quoted saying:

“Today was a tough day for a lot of folks. Death is never easy to deal with, particularly when it occurs under circumstances such as this. At this time our Criminal Investigations Unit is investigating this as an Attempted Murder and a Death Investigation with regard to the husband, Mr. Langdale.

From the information available to us at this time, this appears that the deceased individual intended to murder his wife and then take his own life. We are aware that both individuals suffered from various health problems and that there had been some conflict between the two with regard to their healthcare situation.

Our detectives are in the very preliminary stages of their investigation at this time.

Although this case appears to be simple in nature at this time, no assumptions can be made. Our detectives will gather any available evidence, conduct interviews with the victim and any others that may have information pertinent to this case. The facts will be presented to the Elmore County Grand Jury for its consideration, which is standard protocol in cases such as this.

Based on the information we have at this time our investigators do not anticipate the circumstances to change from what they appear to be at this time.

I want to thank the Elmore County Sheriff’s Department and the United States Marshals Service for their assistance in this case. We also appreciate the neighbors in that area, some of whom were inconvenienced during the standoff. Due to the fact that we’d had shots fired in the area, we did shut down access to the immediate area until the area was safe and secure.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim and family members. This is a tragic situation.”