STEUBENVILLE — Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla hopes a sense of normalcy will prevail today at the courthouse, which reopened for business this morning only about 48 hours after Common Pleas Judge Joseph Bruzzese Jr. was ambushed and shot outside the facility Monday morning.

Meanwhile, Abdalla said Tuesday he expected the man who was in a vehicle with 51-year-old Nathaniel Richmond just before Richmond opened fire on Bruzzese to be released, as authorities have no reason to believe he was involved in the shooting. A probation officer who returned fire shot and killed Richmond.

Abdalla said there will be tighter-than-normal security at the courthouse when it reopens today, but he declined to comment further.

“We will have (additional security). … I don’t want to go into detail. I don’t want to advertise what we’re doing,” he said.

It’s been a difficult couple of days for courthouse employees, knowing that such a violent event took place mere steps from where they work, Abdalla acknowledged. Some of them even witnessed the shooting, he added.

“A lot of the people who witnessed this, who saw their boss laying in the street with a bullet in him, were traumatized,” he said.

Keeping the courthouse closed Tuesday, Abdalla said, was an appropriate response to that trauma. But he hopes that returning to work will be a part of the healing process.

“I think they’ll be alert and do everything they have to do over there,” Abdalla said of courthouse employees.

Meanwhile, Bruzzese continues to recover from his injuries in a Pittsburgh hospital. Abdalla said he spoke with Bruzzese’s brother, who said the judge is “doing well.”

Abdalla also said authorities are satisfied that a man who was in the vehicle with Richmond as Richmond waited for Bruzzese in a Huntington Bank drive-thru was not involved in the ambush. He expected the man, who received minor injuries from a bullet ricochet, would be released sometime on Tuesday.

“He had nothing to do with it. He wasn’t aware of it, what was going on,” Abdalla said of the man, who was not charged and whose name has not been released.

Noting that Bruzzese was armed at the time of the attack, Abdalla said he believes it’s important for judges to take measures to protect themselves.

“With all the nutcases going around, it could happen again. … The world’s not a safe place to live anymore, and I would encourage all judges to carry a firearm,” Abdalla said.

Investigators have not identified a motive for the shooting. Richmond does have a connection to Bruzzese, however, as a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Richmond against the Jefferson County Metropolitan Housing Authority over an April 2015 fire that claimed the lives of his mother and a 2-year-old child was pending before the judge.

Police said at about 4 a.m. Monday, Steubenville police stopped Richmond and issued him a warning for a defective headlight. A little more than three hours later, he arrived at the bank drive-thru, where he apparently waited for Bruzzese, leaving and returning to his vehicle at about 7:30 a.m.

Just before 8 a.m., as Bruzzese approached an entrance to the courthouse off of Court Alley, surveillance footage showed Richmond quickly approach the judge and fire five shots from “point blank” range, Abdalla said Monday.

Bruzzese fell to the ground and attempted to retrieve his weapon. A probation officer who was nearby ordered Richmond to drop his weapon, and when Richmond pointed the firearm toward the officer, the officer shot him.

Although Abdalla believes security measures inside the courthouse are adequate, he plans to have a discussion with county commissioners about whether additional measures outside the facility, such as more cameras, are needed in the wake of Monday’s shooting. Commissioners’ next meeting is on Thursday.

“This is all going to be discussed within the next couple of days,” Abdalla said.