An Alabama police officer who was shot multiple times after responding to reports of an armed robbery was recovering Saturday, while two suspects are believed to have died in a fire following a shootout. The incident began about 5:30 p.m. Friday, the Opelika-Auburn News reported. Auburn Officer Justin Sanders stopped a vehicle that fit the description of one driven by the suspects. As Sanders approached, police said the man opened fire, striking the 30-year-old officer at least four times. Sanders, five-year veteran of the department, was hospitalized in stable condition, Police Capt. Lorenza Dorsey said. The suspects fled and an ensuing manhunt tracked them to a nearby apartment complex. Dorsey said heavily armed officers in tactical gear surrounded the building. Gunfire then erupted, filling the air with noise and smoke. Residents from several blocks away heard the commotion, while nearby Auburn University issued warnings and a lockdown for the veterinary school. Residents fled the scene as the gunfire continued. "Get back! Bullets are flying everywhere!" one officer warned bystanders. "It sounded like fireworks going off," one man told the Opelika-Auburn News. A woman told the newspaper when she heard the gunfire she took cover in her bathtub. Officers tossed canisters of tear gas into the apartment, which caught fire, Dorsey said. The two suspects refused to exit. Authorities said their bodies were later found in the rubble. Lee County Coroner Bill Harris identified one of the suspects as Christopher James Wallace, 38. The identity of the other person, a woman, has not been released. Two people believed to be relatives of Wallace exited the apartment and were taken into custody as officers were trying to get the suspects from the apartment. After the fire was extinguished, authorities found the suspects' bodies in a back room of the apartment. Harris said the bodies will be taken to the medical examiner’s office at the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences in Montgomery for an autopsy to determine the cause of death and positive identification.<doc-sep>The Auburn Police Department provided an update regarding the police officer shot while on-duty Friday evening.The police department says Officer Justin Sanders, 30, was shot and had serious injuries during a traffic stop of a robbery suspect on Opelika Road.Officer Sanders was first taken to East Alabama Medical Center, and later transported to UAB Hospital in Birmingham.Officer Sanders is in stable condition and is recovering. "We are thankful for the staff at East Alabama Medical Center for all they did to save Officer Sanders. We are very proud of the bravery he displayed in attempting to arrest someone dangerous to this community. We are humbled by the outpouring of public support; we are also very proud and appreciative of the dozens of law enforcement personnel who responded within minutes to aid in preventing further violence by those responsible. More than anything, we are thankful that Justin will recover. ", says Auburn Police Chief Paul Register.Officer Sanders is a native of Auburn, and graduated from Auburn High School.He's a five-year veteran of law enforcement.The suspect in the shooting was later found deceased in an apartment fire in Auburn. The Auburn Police Department provided an update regarding the police officer shot while on-duty Friday evening. The police department says Officer Justin Sanders, 30, was shot and had serious injuries during a traffic stop of a robbery suspect on Opelika Road. Advertisement Officer Sanders was first taken to East Alabama Medical Center, and later transported to UAB Hospital in Birmingham. Officer Sanders is in stable condition and is recovering. "We are thankful for the staff at East Alabama Medical Center for all they did to save Officer Sanders. We are very proud of the bravery he displayed in attempting to arrest someone dangerous to this community. We are humbled by the outpouring of public support; we are also very proud and appreciative of the dozens of law enforcement personnel who responded within minutes to aid in preventing further violence by those responsible. More than anything, we are thankful that Justin will recover. ", says Auburn Police Chief Paul Register. Officer Sanders is a native of Auburn, and graduated from Auburn High School. He's a five-year veteran of law enforcement. The suspect in the shooting was later found deceased in an apartment fire in Auburn.<doc-sep>
A suspect linked to the Friday shooting of a police officer in Auburn, Ala., died in a fire at the apartment where he had later barricaded himself, according to reports. The suspect, identified as Christopher James Wallace, 38, allegedly shot the police officer multiple times around 5:30 p.m. when the officer was responding to a report of a robbery in progress at a local drug store, AL.com reported. The officer had pulled over Wallace’s vehicle in connection with the case, according to the report. WISCONSIN WAITRESS GIVES POLICE OFFICERS TOUCHING NOTE AFTER COP'S TRAGIC DEATH: 'I WILL ALWAYS BACK THE BLUE' The wounded officer was in stable condition at East Alabama Medical Center on Friday night, the report said. The officer was alert and talking, WSFA-TV of Montgomery reported. “We are certainly encouraged that he’s going to make a recovery. We hope the community’s prayers and thoughts are with him to get him through it,” Capt. Lorenzo Dorsey of the Auburn Police Division told the station. After the shooting, the suspect drove off with an unidentified woman passenger, and police determined they had traveled to a relative’s apartment, according to AL.com. The suspect traded gunfire with police officers who tried to enter. Two apartment occupants who were not involved in the case later left the apartment and were detained. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Police then used tear gas and what were described as “distraction devices” in an attempt to draw out the suspect and the woman, but they remained inside, AL.com reported. “Shortly after, a fire erupted inside the apartment. Officers continued to secure the area; however, the suspects never emerged from the apartment, which became fully engulfed in fire. The suspects are believed to have perished in the fire,” police told the news outlet. An investigation is continuing, the report said. Friday's wounding of the Auburn police officer came just weeks after the shooting death of Birmingham police Sgt. Wytasha Carter on Jan. 13. A suspect identified as Jeremy Elwin Owens, 31, has been charged in connection with Carter's death.