WHITESBURG, Kentucky — A county sheriff has been charged with murder after police say he shot and killed a judge Thursday during an argument inside the judge’s chambers.
Kentucky State Police say in a news release that Letcher County Sheriff Shawn Stines, 43, of McRoberts, Ky., was taken into custody at the Letcher County Courthouse without incident following the shooting. District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, of Jackhorn, Ky., was shot multiple times and died at the scene, police say.
Officers were called to the courthouse just before 3 p.m. after receiving reports of shots fired inside the building.
The fatal shooting in Whitesburg sent shock waves through a tight-knit Appalachian town and county seat of government with about 1,700 residents located about 145 miles southeast of Lexington.
“Sadly, I have been informed that a district judge in Letcher County was shot and killed in his chambers this afternoon,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in a statement on social media. “There is far too much violence in this world and I pray there is a path to a better tomorrow.”
WSMV Channel 4 reports Mullins was appointed as a judge in 2009. Stines was elected as sheriff in 2018 and re-elected in 2022.
Lead county prosecutor Matt Butler described an outpouring of sympathy as he recused himself and his office from investigations in the shooting, citing social and family ties to Mullins.
“We all know each other here. … Anyone from Letcher County would tell you that Judge Mullins and I married sisters and that we have children who are first cousins but act like siblings,” Butler said in statement from his office. “For that reason, among others, I have already taken steps to recuse myself and my entire office.”
State Attorney General Russell Coleman said in a post on social media said his office is collaborating with Commonwealth’s Attorney for the 27th Judicial Circuit Jackie Steele as special prosecutors in the shooting.
“We will fully investigate and pursue justice,” Coleman says in the post.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
