WHITESBURG, Ky. — A choose in a rural Kentucky county was shot and killed on the native courthouse on Thursday, and the native sheriff was charged within the stunning slaying, police stated.
The governor stated the choose was fatally shot in his chambers. The preliminary investigation signifies that the sheriff shot Mullins following an argument contained in the courthouse, police stated.
District Choose Kevin Mullins, 54, was hit a number of instances within the capturing, Kentucky State Police stated. The choose was pronounced useless on the scene.
Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines, 43, was taken into custody on the scene with out incident, police stated. He was charged with one rely of first-degree homicide.
The investigation is constant, police stated.
Responding to the capturing in a social media publish, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear stated: “There may be far an excessive amount of violence on this world, and I pray there’s a path to a greater tomorrow.”
Kentucky Legal professional Common Russell Coleman stated his workplace will collaborate with a commonwealth’s lawyer within the area as particular prosecutors within the case.
“We’ll absolutely examine and pursue justice,” Coleman stated on social media.
The capturing occurred on the Letcher County courthouse in Whitesburg. The Appalachian city in southeastern Kentucky is 146 miles (235 kilometers) southeast of Lexington, Kentucky.
The capturing is being investigated by Kentucky State Police. State Police Trooper Matt Gayheart referred to as it an remoted incident and stated there was no menace to the general public. However he provided no particulars concerning the capturing.
Mullins served as a district choose for Kentucky’s forty seventh District Court docket in Letcher County since he was appointed by former Gov. Steve Beshear in 2009 and elected the next 12 months.
Mullins was identified for selling substance abuse therapy for individuals concerned within the justice system and helped lots of of residents enter inpatient residential therapy, in keeping with a program for a drug summit he spoke at in 2022. He additionally helped develop a program referred to as Dependancy Restoration Care to supply peer assist companies within the courthouse. This system was adopted in not less than 50 counties in Kentucky.
Mullins additionally served as a founding member of the Responsive Effort to Assist Remedy in Opioid Restoration Efforts Management Workforce.
A number of space faculties had been briefly positioned on lockdown, together with Southeast Kentucky Group and Technical Faculty and Letcher County Colleges, in keeping with media experiences.
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