Wild (!!):
A judge and a sheriff were seen getting ready to go to lunch together, just hours before the sheriff shot and killed the judge in his chambers in Whitesburg. https://t.co/ctANlianUS
— Sarah Bahr (@smbahr14) September 21, 2024
The small town of Whitesburg, Kentucky is in shock after longtime sheriff Shawn Stines allegedly shot and killed district judge Kevin Mullins in the judge’s chambers on Thursday afternoon. According to state police, the shooting occurred after an argument between the two men, who had been friends and worked together at the county courthouse for over a decade. Stines, 43, turned himself in at the scene and was arrested on charges of first-degree murder.
The motive for the shooting remains unclear, leaving the tight-knit community struggling to understand what led to the altercation.
A rural eastern Kentucky county sheriff walked into a courthouse on Thursday afternoon and shot and killed a district judge in his chambers https://t.co/J3rfyuVP6F
— JamesVGrimaldi (@JamesVGrimaldi) September 20, 2024
“The community is small in nature, and we’re all shook,” said Kentucky state police trooper Matt Gayheart during a press conference. “We know that it was an argument between the two that led up to it – but exactly what transpired prior to the shots being fired, those are still things we’re trying to get answers to.”
A Kentucky sheriff faces murder charges in connection with the deadly shooting of a local judge in his chambers on Thursday afternoon.https://t.co/489xMF7XGh
— Jade Jackson, MBA Candidate (@IAMJADEJACKSON) September 20, 2024
Complicating the picture, Stines was recently deposed in a federal investigation involving a former deputy, Ben Fields, who was accused of raping and coercing a woman in the courthouse.
Fields was sentenced to six months in jail and nearly seven years probation as part of a plea deal. The woman at the center of the case, as well as the estate of a second woman who made similar allegations against Fields, sued Stines for failing to appropriately investigate the allegations.
Kentucky courthouse shooting stuns community
Sources told CNN that Stines was deposed in the case on September 16, three days before the shooting. Mike Watts, a circuit court clerk, informed local TV station WKYT that the sheriff and the judge had lunch together right before the shooting. Those close to Stines expressed disbelief over the accusation.
Patty Wood, a widow of the district judge who preceded Mullins and a friend of Stines, said, “You couldn’t find a better person on the face of the earth than Mickey Stines. I don’t know what happened. I know [Stines’s] character.
And I know there had to be something that did it … I just cannot believe that he just went in and shot him for no reason.”
As the investigation continues, the town of Whitesburg remains in shock, awaiting answers to explain the tragic event. Funeral services for Judge Mullins, who was remembered as a kind man who loved his community and provided second chances to people struggling with drug addiction, were held on Sunday.
