Detention Officer Killed Wednesday Was Brother of Slain Tuscaloosa Police Officer

A Tuscaloosa County detention officer who was killed during an off-duty gunfight in Hoover Wednesday night was the brother of a Tuscaloosa Police Officer who was fatally shot in 2019.

Extended family members have confirmed to the Thread that the detention officer who was fatally shot was 42-year-old Juan Tierney Hall - and that Hall is the brother of Dornell Cousette.

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Cousette, of course, is the Tuscaloosa Police officer who was fatally shot in September 2019.

His alleged killer, Luther Bernard Watkins, Jr., remains in the Tuscaloosa County Jail without bond awaiting trial on a capital murder charge - he once requested a change of venue for his trial and alleged Hall acted strangely around him in jail, but that motion was denied.

More than four years after the killing, Watkins has still not been to trial. Judge Brad Almond said last December that he expected the trial to begin in early 2023, but that obviously did not happen.

It is still not clear why Hall - a detention officer - was in Jefferson County Wednesday night. Joni Money, a spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, said deputies were dispatched to an apartment complex on Emerald Point Drive in the Hoover area on reports of a shooting.

Hall said investigators believe the TCSO detention officer, Hall, knocked on the door of a 33-year-old man's apartment, and when he answered the door, Hall reportedly fired a gun at him.

The younger man was struck by a bullet, but armed himself and returned fire, striking Hall.

Money said Hall ran from the location and collapsed nearby. Both men were hospitalized with gunshot wounds, but Hall did not survive.

For more details, if any are made available, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.