The judge was injured and airlifted to a Pittsburgh hospital where he had surgery and was expected to survive.
A judge in Ohio who was shot and injured in an ambush-style attack outside of a courthouse early on Monday managed to return fire with his own handgun before the suspect was shot dead by a probation officer nearby, officials said.
“This was ambush or attempted murder on our judge, ” Sheriff Fred J. Abdalla said in an emotional interview with reporters that was broadcast on television.
The shooting took place just after 8 a.m. at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Steubenville when Judge Joseph J. Bruzzese Jr. was walking toward the building, the city manager, James Mavromatis, told a news conference.
Two suspects were waiting for the judge in a car at a bank parking lot, he said. One of the men got out of the car and opened fire, hitting the judge, Mr. Mavromatis said in a news conference that was broadcast live on WTOV.
The judge returned fire, and a probation officer nearby also opened fire at the attacker, killing the man, Mr. Mavromatis said. The other suspect was taken into custody.
Witnesses said they heard about seven or eight gunshots.
“It just hurts, ” Sheriff Abdalla said. “First thing on a Monday morning — you have a judge shot in front of his courthouse. And that affected me.”
The judge was airlifted to a hospital in Pittsburgh in stable condition and was expected to survive.
“Apparently it was a basic ambush on our judge, ” Mr. Mavromatis said. “The judge does return fire, ” he said. “We have three weapons that may have been involved here.”
He added that the motive was not immediately clear, but that officials believed the judge to be the intended target. Mr. Mavromatis said that security camera footage extracted from courthouse cameras shows the gunman directly approaching the judge.
Both suspects, whose names have not been released, have criminal records with prison time, but Mr. Mavromatis did not immediately have details about those records.
Representative Bill Johnson, a Republican representing Ohio’s Sixth District, said in a statement that he was “very saddened” to hear about the shooting, and said that he had worked with Judge Bruzzese on housing issues. “I know he is committed to the people he serves, ” he said.
“Public service shouldn’ t be a dangerous occupation, but it all too often is, ” he added.
The Steubenville Police Department requested an inquiry by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, with its special investigations, crime scene and cyber units.
Judge Bruzzese, 65, was a county court judge from 1980 to 1996, when he was elected as a judge to the common pleas court, according to the Jefferson County Board of Elections. He has been re-elected every six years since then, the board of elections said.
The court of common pleas hears more serious cases than municipal courts, including the bulk of felony and major civil litigation in the county.
It was not immediately clear if the shooting was directly related to any of the cases he has heard.
Steubenville, a city of more than 18,000 people, is about 40 miles west of Pittsburgh, across the Ohio River.
The city was thrown into the spotlight during a high-profile trial in 2013, when two high school football stars were found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl. The case drew national attention for the way social media spurred the initial prosecution and later helped galvanize national outrage.
