UNDERCOVER HUNTINGTON POLICE OFFICER SHOT

Huntington Police Department crime scene investigator David Castle looks
for evidence on Wednesday evening following the shooting of fellow officer
Cpl. Darin Dempsey at the corner of Hal Greer and Charleston Ave.

HUNTINGTON -- A Huntington Police officer was shot Wednesday night while
working undercover in the 1600 block of Charleston Avenue.

Cpl. Darin Dempsey was shot in the right calf shortly after he had pulled
his motorcycle into the parking lot of a vacant gas station at Charleston
Avenue and Hal Greer Boulevard about 7:40 p.m., said Capt. Steve Hall of
the Huntington Police Department.

Dempsey was taken to Cabell Huntington Hospital and was in good condition
late Wednesday, Hall said.

The shooting suspects were described as two black males wearing brown
jackets and blue jeans, Hall said. Police were not certain why the suspects
shot at Dempsey, or why the undercover officer had pulled his motorcycle
into the parking lot, Hall said.

Dempsey, a member of the force for 16 years, was working undercover as an
intelligence officer. Intelligence officers gather information on drug
activity, among other things, and relay the information to other officers,
Hall said.

Dempsey told investigators at the hospital that he had gotten off his
motorcycle in the parking lot when two black men walked by and yelled
something at him, Hall said. Moments later, the men fired two shots at
Dempsey, hitting him once in the leg.

Dempsey drew his gun and fired two shots at the suspects, who fled west in
an alley on foot, Hall said. The suspects may have known Dempsey was a
police officer, because he had a police emblem on his motorcycle helmet, he
said.

"We don't know for sure, but we're theorizing at this point that they knew
he was an officer," Hall said. "It's certainly cause for concern if someone
is bold and brazen enough to shoot a police officer. It makes you wonder
what they would do if anyone else got in their way."

Charleston Avenue between Hal Greer Boulevard and 15th Street was cordoned
off as several HPD officers, Cabell County Sheriff's deputies and West
Virginia State troopers searched the ground for shell casings or other
evidence.

Hall and other officers at the scene said they realize how dangerous their
job is when a fellow officer is shot in the line of duty.

"It's a call you never want to get," Hall said. "You always hope for the best."

Dempsey was conscious and in good spirits, Mayor David Felinton said after
he visited the officer at the hospital.

"We just hope his recovery goes well," Felinton said. "He certainly is
tough, because I couldn't imagine being in that kind of pain."

About an hour after the shooting, police stopped two black males in a
yellow Chevrolet Monte Carlo at the Fast Lane Chevron along W.Va. 10. One
of the men was wearing a brown jacket.

They were released from police custody after investigators searched their car.

"They fit the description, but we ruled them out as suspects," Hall said.