Alabama police officer killed; suspect also dead after standoff, police say

A police officer was shot and killed late Tuesday night in Mobile, Ala., and the suspect also died after barricading himself in a home, police said.

The slain officer was identified as Justin Billa, Mobile Police Chief Lawrence Battiste said. Battiste identified the shooter as Robert Hollie.

The incident began when a woman was found dead in the middle of the road in Mobile Tuesday night.

Police quickly identifed Hollie, the slain woman's ex-husband, as a "person of interest" in that killing and went to a home in the Toulminville neighborhood associated with Hollie, Battiste said.

Billa and other officers were establishing a perimeter around Hollie's residence when Billa was shot, police said.

After shooting Billa, Hollie barricaded himself in the home at approximately 12:30 a.m. local time as SWAT units descended on the area, police said. The barricade situation ended approximately two hours later.

"He didn't love my momma."

- Octavia Poellnitz, daughter of shooting suspect's ex-wife

Chief Battiste said his officers fired shots at the suspect, but it was unclear if he died from those shots or self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

The slain woman's daughter, Octavia Poellnitz, identified her mother as Fonda Poellnitz and said there was bad blood between the two.

"He didn't love my momma," the daughter reportedly said.

Billa, who had been an officer since January 2016, won the MPD's Police Officer of the Month award in June 2016, according to local reports.

Officers were seen early Wednesday embracing and consoling each other outside University of South Alabama Medical Center before Billa's death was announced.

Twelve other officers have been killed deliberately in the line of duty so far this year, according to a tally on the Officer Down Memorial Page. In 2017, 52 officers were intentionally killed, including 46 who died by gunfire, according to the website.

Gregg Re is an editor for Fox News. Follow him on Twitter @gregg_re.