The police say a sheriff shot District Judge Kevin Mullins inside the courthouse on Thursday afternoon before turning himself in.
The sheriff of a rural eastern Kentucky county walked into a courthouse on Thursday afternoon and shot and killed a district judge in his chambers after an argument, the police said.
Mickey Stines, 43, the sheriff in Letcher County, turned himself in after shooting Judge Kevin Mullins and was charged with first-degree murder, Trooper Matt Gayheart of the Kentucky State Police said at a news conference on Thursday evening.
The shooting happened at about 2:55 p.m. inside the Letcher County Courthouse in Whitesburg, a city in southeastern Kentucky.
The sheriff was taken to a local jail and had been cooperative with investigators, Trooper Gayheart said.
“This community is small in nature, and we’re all shook,” the trooper said.
Judge Mullins, 54, suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene, Trooper Gayheart said.
Investigators were interviewing witnesses who were in the building at the time of the shooting. The police were still trying to determine what had led up to the argument.
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
