WOMAN SHOT DURING METH RAID

The Alabama Bureau of Investigations is investigating a police
shooting of an 18-year-old Muscadine woman during a raid on a
methamphetamine laboratory last week, District Attorney Joe Hubbard
said.

The victim, Amanda Mills, said Monday from her room at University
Hospital in Birmingham that she was recovering from being shot in the
back last Wednesday night at the Cleburne County home she shares with
her boyfriend. Lt. Richard Smith of the Calhoun-Cleburne County Drug
Task Force said the shooting investigation was ongoing.

"We were there on a methamphetamines lab search warrant, and we did
find a methamphetamines lab there," Smith said.

A handful of people were arrested, Smith said.Hubbard said Mills was
the only injury he knew of that resulted from the raid. Mills said she
was watching television sometime after 9 p.m. when her boyfriend,
who'd stepped outside for several minutes, "came running back in,
grabbed a hold of me, gave me a hug and said, 'Baby, we're being
raided.'" Mills said four policemen entered the home and ordered her
to the ground, face-down. Her dog began barking at the officers, she
said. As she dropped to her knees, she reached for the dog and was
shot in the back, she said. "I was afraid if I didn't grab my dog,
they were gonna shoot him point blank," she said.

Mills said one officer "coached" her and helped her stay awake before
an ambulance arrived. She said she was flown to University Hospital
that evening.