Duty Death: Alan Jay Hershberger - [Holdenville]
End of Service: 31/07/2022
By Corrections1 Staff
HOLDENVILLE, Okla. — Alan Jay Hershberger, an Oklahoma corrections officer, is dead after being attacked by an inmate at the Davis Correctional Facility on July 31.
“We are deeply saddened to report that a correctional officer at the Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville, Oklahoma, has died from an injury sustained after an attack by an inmate earlier today,” the Oklahoma Department of Corrections said in a press release.
The incident, according to the department’s release, took place when a group of inmates was returning to their housing area after recreation time. The officer was attacked by inmate Gregory Thompson, 49, who attacked Hershberger from behind with a homemade weapon. On-scene lifesaving efforts from medical personnel were unsuccessful.
“Officials with local law enforcement and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections were notified and are investigating the incident with full support from facility staff,” the release said.
Thompson is serving a life sentence for a 2003 first-degree murder conviction out of Oklahoma County, according to the Associated Press. He also has a pending five-year sentence for a 2010 first-degree manslaughter conviction out of Pittsburg County, prison records show. That case involved the stabbing death of another inmate at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester in 2009.
Davis Correctional Facility is a medium-security facility operated by CoreCivic.
Support services are available to the staff of Davis Correctional Facility.
“Our hearts go out to the officer’s family, friends, and coworkers at this time,” the release said.