It has been a busy week for the Selma Police Department, both bad and good.

The weekend started off early Thursday evening with a domestic violence shooting that left one dead, an injured female and an injured police officer.

The suspect, later identified as 62-year-old Earnest “Scoop” Fells, was fatally shot after he opened fire on responding officers of a domestic violence shooting call. One officer was grazed during the incident and has been put on paid leave. The woman was transported by helicopter to a trauma center.

Saturday morning, police responded to a call of a possible jumper off the Edmund Pettus Bridge. With the help of the Calera Police dive unit and other area agencies, authorities were able to recover the body of 32-year-old Andre Heard, of Selma, Sunday morning.

That’s not including all of the other countless calls and reports of thefts, burglaries, harassment, assaults and other incidents the Selma police had to deal with over that stretch.

It’s a constant, often sleepless and thankless job for these men and women who swore to protect this city.

The city council made sure to do its part in saying “thank you” Tuesday night at the Selma City Council meeting. A resolution was passed to show support for local law enforcement and first responders, while also paying condolences to victims and families of recent local and national events.

During the meeting, Lt. Reginald Fitts was recognized for his recent promotion. Fitts is once of eight officers in the Selma Police Department who have been promoted since June. Fitts was honored earlier in the day at police headquarters with a small ceremony with family members, friends and co-workers. In June, Police Chief John Brock said that month’s promotion ceremony was the beginning of several promotions during the summer. Brock also said the department is looking forward to hiring about seven new officers by fall.

We want to be among the first to say congratulations to Fitts and all others that were recently promoted.