By Steve Neavling
An FBI agent is recovering after being wounded in a shootout with a murder and kidnapping suspect at a Louisiana motel last week.
The bureau on Friday declined to say whether the agent was still hospitalized, but said the unidentified agent “is in stable condition, in good spirits and is expected to make a full recovery,” NOLA.com reports.
The agent, who worked out of the New Orleans Field Office, was among a coalition of local, state and federal law enforcement who tried to execute a search warrant on James David Hawley, 47, at a Pineville motel. After a several-hour standoff, the agent was struck by a bullet during a shootout with the suspect, the FBI said.
Hawley is accused of kidnapping his ex-girlfriend, Thoue Nichole Bronowski, 45, after killing her mother Norma Matko, 69, of Belmont County. Authorities said he fled to Louisiana with Bronowski.
The last agent from the New Orleans Field Office to be shot in the line of duty was wounded trying to arrest a kidnapping suspect at a Louisiana motel in May 2015. The agent survived.
