Police seek suspect in lawyer's shooting

ELLINGTON -- Authorities are searching for the person suspected of shooting a Piedmont attorney Thursday morning as he was driving on Route HH in Reynolds County.

L. Dwayne Hackworth reportedly was taken to a St. Louis hospital for treatment, and "last word was he was being released from the hospital," said Reynolds County Sheriff Tom Volner, who didn't know Hackworth's condition.

Joy Ferguson with the law firm of Hackworth, Hackworth & Ferguson said Hackworth was "doing fine" Friday morning, but would not comment on whether Hackworth was still hospitalized or when he was expected to be released.

Authorities reportedly learned Hackworth had been shot from hospital personnel.

According to Sgt. Marty Elmore, public information officer for Troop G of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the patrol was notified at 7:49 a.m. of what was "reported initially as a traffic crash" on Route HH, nine miles east of Highway 21.

Volner said Hackworth was driving at Ford F-250 pickup at the time.

Trooper(s) responding to the scene "apparently had no reason to suspect anything other than a crash," Elmore said. "After he got to the hospital, medical personnel realized he had a gunshot wound as well."

Volner said authorities have a suspect and executed search warrants Thursday night. "We have not located the suspect yet," he said.

Although further details are being withheld at this time, Volner confirmed the location of Hackworth's shooting is "within three miles" of where his wife, Sandra L. Hackworth, was shot in October 2000.

Sandra Hackworth suffered an eye injury when an unknown man shot into the Ford Excursion she was driving.

The shooting, which authorities at the time said appeared to have been "an ambush," occurred at about 8 a.m. on Route HH, about two miles west of the Clearwater Dam in Reynolds County.