LETCHER COUNTY, Ky. – A county sheriff in Kentucky has been taken into custody and charged with killing a judge in his courthouse chambers during an argument on Thursday, according to reports.
Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines surrendered to the Kentucky State Police after reportedly shooting Judge Kevin Mullins Thursday afternoon, the New York Times reported, citing law enforcement authorities.
Stines, 43, was subsequently charged with first-degree murder, the news outlet said, citing a Thursday evening briefing from Trooper Matt Gayheart of the Kentucky State Police.
Shortly before 3 p.m. on Thursday, KSP received a 911 call from the Letcher County Courthouse in Whitesburg regarding shots fired in the building, Gayheart said.
Law enforcement officers responded to the scene and discovered Mullins, 54, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Lifesaving measures were unsuccessful, and the county coroner’s office pronounced Mullins dead at the scene, according to Gayheart.
A preliminary investigation indicates that Stines — the active Letcher County Sheriff — fatally shot Mullins during an argument inside the courthouse, reported the Courier Journal.
Gayheart noted that Stines was cooperative and taken into custody at the scene without incident. He was later booked at a local jail.
“This community is small in nature, and we’re all shook,” Gayheart said, according to the New York Times.
Investigators are trying to determine what led to the argument that ultimately prompted the fatal shooting.
Trooper Matt Gayheart briefing members of the media:
According to a statement released on social media by State Attorney General Russell Coleman, his his office will “collaborate with Commonwealth’s Attorney for the 27th Judicial Circuit Jackie Steele as special prosecutors in this case. We will fully investigate and pursue justice.”
Mullins was judge of the 47th Judicial District. Ballotpedia indicated that he was first elected in 2010 and he had recently been appointed to a state judicial commission on mental health.
Stines was elected sheriff in 2018 and re-elected in 2022, reported Blaze Media.
Whitesburg is a small town of about 2,000 residents, which is located approximately three and a half hours southeast of Louisville.
