Mayor Steve Stanley
SHEFFIELD – As flowers were being delivered from across The Shoals to Sheffield Police Headquarters, there was a pall in the air surrounding the officer’s downstairs entrance. Most of the men and women of Sheffield P.D. could be seen coming and going through the parking lot, exchanging soft words, hugs and shoulders to lean on. But there was hardly any comfort generated, no balm to soothe the broken hearts. It was just grief. Sgt. Nick Risner, left on his shift last night and never came back. One of their own had been killed in a senseless shooting.
Mayor Steve Stanley, was there, and one could tell in his voice that he was greatly mournful, “Well… It’s devastating to all of us. Having a hard time controlling my emotions about it. It’s a very unfortunate, senseless use of violence… A good officer… Good man… Doing his job… Being brave… Being a hero. And the system let us down. The person who did this should have never been out of jail or had access to a weapon. It should have never happened. It’s just senseless. Somehow or other, we’ve got to do better. I think the State of Alabama has made some effort to reform the parole system. We have to hold people accountable and keep our citizens safe. We need more mental health facilities and more place to hold criminal and insane people. I don’t know if this guy qualifies for that, but it certainly seems that way to me.”
