Former state representative injured in shooting

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Selma police confirm former state Rep. James Thomas was injured in a shooting.

Interim Police Chief Robert Green says SPD was contacted by the Wilcox County Sheriffs Office on Tuesday to check on Thomas. When they arrived at the residence police observed a vehicle with several bullet holes and blood on a seat and Thomas was not there. Police later discovered Thomas had been transported to Baptist South, treated for a bullet wound, and released.

When Thomas was questioned by investigators he told them he was near George Washington Carver Homes on MLK Street in Selma and someone fired into his vehicle on Aug. 5. Chief Green says Thomas didn’t report the shooting the day it happened. Police are now trying to determine exactly what happened.

“We are still investigating the incident to determine exactly whether it happened at GWC or whether it happened somewhere else. We have been dealing with all kinds of violent crime in that particular area for months. A lot of the perpetrators have been arrested and sent to federal court. So we have cut down on the activity in that area. We are going to continue to be vigilant in that area. We want the public to report any incident in the area that happens in their respective neighborhood,” said Chief Green.

The case remains under investigation.

Thomas was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives for the 69th District (Autauga, Dallas, Lowndes and Wilcox) in 1982. Thomas was defeated for re-election in 2010.