A UCF student set to begin the school year wanted to take one last road trip with his girlfriend. Instead, he lost his life in a national forest after trying to help a woman disguised as a motorist in distress.
Simjee died despite the efforts of Paulus, who was performing CPR on him when authorities arrived, a statement from sheriff's officials said. She was not injured.
Officials were looking for a second suspect, and during the investigation, they learned there might be a group of people"living off the grid" in the national forest, the sheriff's office said in a statement. The Alabama Department of Corrections used tracking dogs and found a group of tents set up in the national forest, about a mile from Cheaha State Park's boundaries.
Authorities said they told the boy – age 5 – to put down the shotgun, but he continued to approach the woman, who authorities later discovered was his mother, before laying down the weapon. Studdard said it didn't appear that anyone else was using the camp at the time. It was about a half-mile from the site of the attempted robbery. It is legal to camp in the Talladega National Forest, forest service officials said, but only for 21 days at a time.Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day