Tuscaloosa Police Officer Dornell Cousette has died after a Monday afternoon shooting, city officials have confirmed.

At a press conference late Monday night, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox said 40-year-old Cousette was shot in the head and rushed to DCH Regional Medical Center where he died around 8 p.m.

Maddox called Cousette a hero and said he was a father of two daughters and engaged to be married.

"In our community, our heroes wear the police uniform of the Tuscaloosa Police Department, and tonight, one of our heroes has died in the line of duty protecting our city," Maddox said. "I ask that the people of Tuscaloosa keep Investigator Cousette and his family in our prayers."

The shooting took place in the 1700 block of 33rd Avenue in Tuscaloosa's West End off of Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, where Cousette was serving a warrant on a suspect.

TPD's Interim Chief Mitt Tubbs said Cousette saw the suspect flee into a house and followed him inside, where the two exchanged gunfire. Cousette was shot and the suspect was also wounded. Police did not immediately release his identification or condition.

Cousette joined TPD in 2006. He was a US Army veteran and a graduate of Alabama State University.

Cousette is the first Tuscaloosa Police officer killed by gunfire in the line of duty since John Charles Thomas was shot and killed in 1972.

Stay tuned to this site and station for more information as it becomes available.

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