UPDATE: Sept. 14, 2015, 10:41 AM ET
EDDYVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Police say the man accused of fatally shooting a Kentucky trooper has been shot and killed after an hours-long manhunt.
Police say the man accused of fatally shooting a Kentucky trooper has been shot and killed after an hours-long manhunt.
Trooper Jay Thomas, a state police spokesman, says 25-year-old Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks of Missouri was shot by police Monday morning when he refused to drop his weapon. He died at a hospital.
Authorities say 31-year-old trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder was conducting a traffic stop Sunday night when the driver fled. After a chase, the suspect stopped his car abruptly and fired several shots into Ponder’s cruiser. He died later at a hospital.
Police had said Johnson-Shanks fled on foot. Numerous law enforcement agencies had been aiding in the search, using helicopters and dogs in the rural, wooded area.
Ponder had graduated from the Kentucky State Police training academy in January and was stationed at the state police post in Mayfield, the news release said.
State police said numerous law enforcement agencies, as well as helicopters and dogs were being used to help with search efforts in the rural, wooded area that has homes scattered about. Trooper Jay Thomas said there are numerous vacant summer homes in the area.
“We have a massive search going on right now with multiple agencies trying to locate the shooter,” Thomas said.
Police closed a 9-mile section of the interstate while the search was being conducted.
Thomas said people who live in the area should watch for anything suspicious and call police immediately if they see the suspect.
“He is armed and dangerous,” Thomas said.
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Historically, people who shoot state troopers in Kentucky have a lower survival rate than Ebola victims. Your best chance for survival consists of lawyering up, calling the news crews and walking in to a station to surrender yourself.
When will this epidemic of White on White gun violence ever end?
Why have the leaders of the White Community (Mullah Huckabee and David Duke) not spoken out against this senseless violence by their followers?
NRA: Clearly this situation could have been prevented Americans had more guns.
Well, he ain’t a suspect no more.
If only President Obama had spoken out against #BlackLivesMatter this would never have happened.