Anniston police officer Justin Sollohub


Anniston, Alabama (WLJS) --- The head of Anniston's police department spoke with WLJS news anchor Ed Moore III in an interview released Saturday, as the city waits for a Calhoun County judge's final sentencing in November for 26-year-old Joshua Eugene Russell, the man found guilty September 16 of capital murder in the August 2011 shooting death of 27-year-old Anniston police officer Justin Sollohub.

A Lee County jury at the T.K. Davis Justice Center in Opelika Wednesday recommended in an 8-4 vote to have Russell imprisoned for life without the possibility of parole.

Here is what Anniston Police Chief Shane Denham had to say:

"[August 24, 2011] was just a normal day here in Anniston.

"Me and the crime lab investigator were planning on where we were going to eat lunch. We were about to head to lunch when we got a call that we had an officer down. Sollohub was less than 6 blocks away so we were there in less than a minute. We had a couple of officers there that were attending Justin. It was very obvious that he was going to pass away.

"We were doing everything we could for him and it was a pretty chaotic situation. We immediately started coordinating a manhunt. We were concerned that we were not going to find [Joshua Russell] until dark.

"We had [Russell’s] name within the first hour. The city just kind of gave him up real, real quick. There were witnesses there that actually saw what happened, some that we got early on. Multiple people were calling in. This is a small town. Word spreads really fast. We got calls from other agencies, some just regular citizens, some were regular informants. From time to time, crime happens, but some things just should not happen.

"Even some bad guys have respect for law enforcement.

"We didn’t leave here until midnight that night.

"We had a lot of healing to do. Some of our guys were absolutely crushed. They had to take off work. You always think it’s not going to happen to your department. I don’t think you ever totally get over it. You just cope with it and move on.

"The events of the day, just replaying it over and over and over. There was no sleeping for quite a while. There are things that you see and do with this type of job that affects you mentally and physically. There was no sleeping for several weeks.

"For the department, we actually had memorials that were starting to build. There were flowers, teddy bears, and all kinds of trinkets and notes. For weeks and weeks and weeks, we had more food than we could eat.

"Probably all the way through Christmas, there were multiple groups throughout the city who popped up wanting to help. It opened some doors that had not been quite wide open. It forged some relationships that made community leaders.

"The Peerless, Jefferson’s, Covalli's, they just started bringing stuff. It was very beneficial. I can’t tell you how long that went on for. I was just amazed. People would just show up and bring stuff and pass on their condolences. For several days, I never saw anything in the city like this.

"It forced some conversations that needed to happen. I probably drove myself crazy at one point going to meetings all over town. I was spending more time here than at home with my family. It took some time for that to balance out.

"There were some guys coming into work and the atmosphere was like a funeral home for a while. It was not unusual for like, 20 guys to sit here and just talk about old times. Pastors would talk to us. It was very beneficial.

"We tell our men and women that this [career] could be life or death. We have a very violent society. There is not a respect for life like there once was. People become desensitized to that. When you see violence in the paper, you move onto the next article.

"[Sollohub's death] showed us it doesn’t just happen somewhere else. It can happen right here, today.

"I never thought it would happen here. I never thought it would happen in my career. Honestly on a professional level, it’s one of the worst experiences I've had [that was] work related. There a lot of anger issues that come up. A lot of these cases that come up, [the criminals] are repeat offenders. They go to jail and get out. It's a constant cycle.

"Just like [the men from the Kevin Thompson case]. Just senseless violent acts. Those guys should have never been out. As fast as we lock them up, they are right back out. (Kevin Thompson is the third grade teacher from Wellborn Elementary School who was found stabbed to death in Aprill 2011)

"The department will never be completely healed. We don’t want to forget. We want to always remember. [During our] new employees orientation, we tell Justin’s story. We tell them why his name is on this building. We show the funeral possession from Huntsville to Anniston. We want to show them how deadly this job can be. This is a career where we have to really weigh the pros and cons. If you are not all the way in, you need to get out.

"[The trial] brought a lot back up and it also brings old wounds. But it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Once it's behind us and justice is served, it will help even further take us down that road.

"Justin was a real person, a human being. He was a son. He had a mom and dad. He had brothers, he had sisters. He was one of those guys who worked hard every day. He was not a slacker. He wasn’t a check collector. He enjoyed this work. He liked to put bad guys in jail. He was just a good guy. He did not deserve to die. He was just trying to do a good job.”


This report was made through WLJS News in Jacksonville, Alabama on 9/21/2013 at 4:22 P.M.