Khalfani A. Hardwick (Montgomery County Detention Center) and Judge Johnny Hardwick (Montgomery County Circuit Court)
A state judge in Alabama is in critical condition after his 36-year-old son allegedly shot him over the weekend in what authorities have described as a domestic dispute. Khalfani A. Hardwick was taken into custody on Saturday and charged with one count of first-degree domestic violence assault and one count of being a forbidden person in possession of a firearm in the attack on Judge Johnny Hardwick, authorities announced.
According to a news release from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, deputies at about 1 p.m. on Saturday responded to a 911 call at the residence of Johnny Hardwick, the presiding judge of Montgomery County’s Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, in regards to a possible domestic violence incident.
Upon arriving at the scene, first responders said they located Judge Hardwick, who had been “assaulted, shot, and seriously injured by his son.”
Following the alleged assault, Khalfani Hardwick attempted to flee the area in his truck, which was later found abandoned on the side of Trotman Road in Montgomery, police said. During a search of the surrounding area, authorities located Khalfani Hardwick, who was on foot along U.S. Highway 231 and took him into custody without incident.
Authorities said that Judge Hardwick was transported to a hospital after suffering “serious” injuries in the alleged assault. The judge was later said to have undergone emergency surgery and was listed in critical condition, per a report from NBC News.
Police have not yet released details about what may have led to the shooting.
