The Meridian Police Department said Friday that it will offer a $15,000 reward in the March shooting that seriously injured Lauderdale County Chancery Court Judge Charles Smith, bringing the total reward being offered to $47,000.

Nearly two months after the shooting outside the Lauderdale County Courthouse, Smith is eager to return to the bench, according to a news release from the Administrative Office of Courts.

Smith is chancellor of the 12th Chancery Court District, which includes Lauderdale and Clarke counties.

He was shot on March 16 after he got out of his truck, Meridian police said.

“I am hoping that in a couple of weeks, the doctors will say that I’m ready to go back to work because I’m ready,” Smith said in a statement.

The judge has undergone multiple surgeries and still doesn’t have use of his left leg, but he hopes to recover mobility with continued healing and physical therapy, the release said.

Smith credited nearby deputies and medical workers with saving his life.

“I am so blessed,” Smith said in the statement. “Just by the grace of God I’m here. I think He put the right people in the right place at the right time or I wouldn’t be here … It’s a miracle. All I can say is God just said it wasn’t my time.”

No arrests have been made, but Meridian police previously said the shooting was “personal.”

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is leading the investigation.

According to the release, Smith did not see or hear the shooter and investigators have reviewed case files from Smith’s time as a judge, attorney and prosecutor.

“When you look back at it, there are a lot more people who might be mad about how a case turned out,” Smith said in the release.

The police department’s reward matches funds offered by the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors and brings the reward total to $47,000.

The $32,000 in rewards previously offered by the East Mississippi Crimestoppers program includes $5,000 from the Clarke County Board of Supervisors, $15,000 from the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors and funds raised by private citizens, according to Chief Deputy Ward Calhoun with the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department.

The rewards are offered to anyone with information that would lead to an arrest and submissions can be made anonymously, Calhoun said.

Anyone with information can call the Crimestoppers tip line at 855-485-8477 or visit the East Mississippi Crimestoppers Facebook page or website at www.eastms.crimestoppersweb.com.