Suspect in traffic stop shooting under arrest, 24-hour guard at Huntsville Hospital

HUNTSVILLE, Al.
Samuel Sirvoy Ward, accused of opening fire on Huntsville police officers during a traffic stop Monday, is under 24-hour guard at Huntsville Hospital and under arrest by the Huntsville Police Department.
Ward, 27, is in critical condition and unconscious in Huntsville Hospital's Intensive Care Unit, his cousin, Sonya Ward, said Tuesday morning. Huntsville police community relations director Dr. Harry Hobbs said he is being treated as a prisoner and will be charged and booked into the Madison County jail upon his release from Huntsville Hospital.
Hobbs said because he's a prisoner, Ward can't have anyone visit him. His family is communicating with the doctors at the hospital.
Ward was pulled over Monday at 2:44 p.m. for a traffic stop on Earl Street off Clinton Avenue West near the Butler Terrace public housing community. According to Huntsville police, Ward opened fire on two officers and they returned fire in the parking lot of the Westside Community Center.
Ward was transported by HEMSI to Huntsville Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery. Ward's mother, Juanita Humphrey, said the doctor told her Ward was shot five times and was on a ventilator in the intensive care unit. Humphrey said Ward was scheduled for a second surgery this morning.
Hobbs said the criminal investigation of the incident has just begun and there will likely be a criminal trial in the future. He said there's little information to share now because of the ongoing investigation, but he did say there are two investigations. One is for the criminal events that occurred and the other is an internal investigation of the two officers involved in the incident.
Hobbs said Huntsville Police Chief Mark Hudson has declined to identify the officers involved in the shooting and said that in accordance with departmental rules, they have been placed on administrative leave until an Internal Affairs investigation is completed.