Police sketches aid in apprehending wanted couple

Attention to detail helped police collar a couple wanted for questioning in connection with a home invasion shooting in neighboring Coffee County.

The suspects, Thomas E. Cripps and Angela D. Craven, were originally arrested on charges of possession of drugs and possession of a firearm following a routine traffic stop. It was while they were being booked that officers Tim Jones and Kenneth Seagraves noticed a wanted poster bearing a sketch of two suspects hanging on the wall near where officer Jones was completing the arrest report.

The poster listed an unidentified man and woman as wanted in connection with a home invasion and attempted murder of a woman in Coffee County in which the victim was shot. A closer inspection revealed an uncanny resemblance between the two who had just been arrested on drug charges and the two sketches of the people wanted in Coffee County.

The officers voiced their suspicions to officers in Coffee County who confirmed it was Cripps and Craven who they were looking to question. While saying no charges have been filed in the attempted murder there, Coffee County authorities say both Cripps and Craven are persons of interest in the case.

While Coffee County officers decide whether the pair will be charged with the attempted murder there, local lawmen have learned the gun they recovered from their vehicle matches the type of gun used in the shooting. Regardless of decisions made by Coffee County law officers, both suspects will face drug and firearms charges here for the gun and marijuana found in their possession.