A local sheriff shot and killed a district judge inside a courthouse in Kentucky on Thursday, according to police.
Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines allegedly killed Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, in his chambers following an argument, Kentucky State Police spokesman Matt Gayheart said Thursday night. Mullins was shot multiple times, Gayheart said.
Stines was arrested at the scene without incident after officers arrived, police said. He has been charged with one count of murder in the first degree.
Police did not reveal a motive or the nature of the argument that led to the shooting.
The shooting took place at the Letcher County Courthouse in Whitesburg, Kentucky, about two and a half hours southeast of Lexington, near the Virginia border.
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said in a social media post that his office will collaborate with a regional commonwealth’s attorney as special prosecutors in the case. “We will fully investigate and pursue justice,” Coleman said.
A school in the area was briefly placed under lockdown after the shooting, Gayheart said.
The shooting comes a day after the apparent end of a manhunt for a suspect in a Kentucky highway shooting that put parts of the state on edge. The suspect was believed to have been found dead, officials said Wednesday.
