Woman shot, killed outside Marengo jail; Gallion man arrested

LINDEN — The Linden Police Department took a confession this morning from a Gallion man less than 12 hours after he is alleged to have shot and killed another Gallion resident.

The incident culminated at 10:55 p.m. in front of the lobby doors of the Marengo County Sheriff’s Department near Dunn Street in Linden. It was there that 52-year-old Eddie White of Dill Road in Gallion pulled a shotgun from his car and, according to authorities, shot 48-year-old Joyce Houston in the back at point-blank range.

“Him and her had been seeing each other for a while. He saw her with another man, confronted her, had a conversation with her. He left, got a beer and went back home,” Linden Police Department Chief Scott McClure said Thursday morning, recounting the details of White’s confession. “He came back to town to get some more beer, saw him and her again, started trying to flag them down. They were in the car when he saw them. He got in behind them. They went down towards Linden Lumber where he said he got too close to them and hit them in the rear end. They headed south, got down toward Dunn Street toward the county jail, basically going there for safety.”

Security cameras outside the Marengo County Detention Center helped McClure and the Linden Police Department to shed further light onto the incidents detailed in White’s confession.

“He came in, pulled up on the passenger side of the vehicle. He got out and started trying to talk to her through the window and got into a heated argument,” McClure said. “A black male got out of the driver’s side. (White) went back to his car and got a single barrel12-gauge shotgun and went back to the driver’s side where the black male had run off.”

McClure said security camera footage shows that White then turned his attention back to Houston.

“He drug her out of the car. His claim is that the gun went off accidentally. What I can see from the video is that he took a half a step back and pulled the trigger,” McClure said. “His claim is that he doesn’t remember that part.”

First responders were on the scene within five minutes of the shooting but Houston died on the scene.

“I got all my officers out. I had five of mine secure the jail,” McClure said of the Linden Police Department’s actions in the wake of the shooting. “Myself and Lt. Robert Alston and Dep. Tony Gary went to the address on Dill Street and when we got there he came walking down the road. We apprehended him at that point. We did not take any statements from him last night. He had been drinking pretty heavy. We waited until this morning. We interviewed him this morning and he did give us a full confession.”

The shooting death is a first for Linden in more than two decades.

“I’ve never worked one and I’ve been here since 93,” McClure said.

While the department has had little practice working such cases, McClure commended his officers for wrapping the case up in a timely manner.

“I want to thank all my guys. They all did excellent work. Tony (Gary) went out there with us and he stepped up,” McClure said.