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 Thursday evening.
The shooting happened at about 2.55pm inside the Letcher County Courthouse in Whitesburg, a city in southeastern Kentucky.
The sheriff was taken to a local jail and had been co-operative with investigators, Gayheart said.
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“This community is small in nature and we’re all shook,” the trooper said.
Mullins (54) suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene, 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 led up to the argument.
Gov Andy Beshear of Kentucky said on social media that he had been informed of the shooting.
“There is far too much violence in this world, and I pray there is a path to a better tomorrow,” the governor wrote.
The shooting prompted concerns in the community of an active shooter and prompted lockdowns at area schools. The police later said that the shooting was an isolated incident and that there was no threat to the public.
Russell Coleman, the Kentucky attorney general, said that his office would work with local officials to investigate and prosecute the case.
The news stunned the people of Letcher County, which is about 110 miles southeast of Lexington and is home to about 21,500 people.
Mullins was first elected by county residents in 2010, according to Ballotpedia, which tracks elections. He had recently been appointed to a state judicial commission on mental health.
Stines was elected sheriff in 2018 and was reelected in 2022. – New York Times