A small Kentucky town is still reeling after a shocking act of violence in which a longtime sheriff was accused of shooting and killing a judge in a county courthouse on Sept. 19 left many questions unanswered.
State police said Sheriff Shawn Stines, 43, killed District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, following an altercation in the judge’s chambers. Stines turned himself in, was arrested at the scene, and is now charged with first-degree murder.
The motive for the shooting remains unclear, leaving residents of Whiteburg, population 1,711, wondering what happened between the two elected officials.
“It’s a small community to begin with, so we’re all shaken up,” Kentucky State Police Trooper Matt Gayheart said at a press conference following the shooting on the evening of Sept. 19. “We know what started the incident was an argument between two individuals, but we’re still working to determine what actually happened prior to the shooting.”
Several residents told media outlets that Ms Stynes was a beloved member of the community for many years and they wondered what had sparked such outrage. Ms Stynes and Ms Mullins were friends and worked together at the county courthouse for more than a decade.
Stines was recently depositioned in a federal investigation into a former deputy who pleaded guilty in court to raping and coercing a woman. Former deputy Ben Fields received six months in prison and about seven years of probation as part of a plea deal. Fields was fired in 2022 while the charges were pending trial.
The woman at the center of the case, along with the heirs of a second woman who made similar accusations against Field while she was alive but has since died, sued Stines for failing to properly investigate the allegations.
According to CNN, Steins’ lawyers in the lawsuit said the defendant “acted in good faith at all times and exercised due care and skill in carrying out his duties as required by law.”
Sources told CNN that Stines testified about the incident on September 16, three days before the shooting.
Circuit Court Clerk Mike Watts told local television station WKYT that the sheriff and judge had lunch together shortly before the shooting, but police have not yet said what the argument that led to the shooting was about.
People close to Mr Stines said the shooting was outrageous and they were shocked to hear of the accusation that he killed Mr Mullins.
“You won’t find a nicer person on earth than Mickey Stinez. I don’t know what happened,” Patti Wood, a friend of Stinez’s and the widow of Judge Mullins’ predecessor, the district judge, told ABC News. “I know (Stynes’) character and I think something must have been going on… I can’t believe he would just go in for no reason and shoot him.”
Bill and Josephine Richardson, who have lived in town for more than 50 years, told the Louisville Courier Journal that Stines was well-liked in the community, and two of the people they spoke to said Stines “was not his usual self” earlier in the week before the shooting.
