WHITESBURG, Ky. (LEX 18) — Troopers have charged Letcher County Sheriff Shawn "Mickey" Stines in the murder of Judge Kevin Mullins.
Whitesburg is a very small, close-knit community in the Eastern Kentucky mountains and to say the community is in shock would be an understatement.
"You never think it's going to happen to your community until it does," Laci Wright, a Whitesburg resident, said.
"We knew something was really really wrong. A friend of my wife's called and said you guys need to lock down there's an active shooter in the courthouse so instantly we were shocked," Joseph Banks, another Whitesburg resident, added.
"It really was a scare, and I thought well we need to lock the doors and just wait to see what's going on and I was going to go under the desk and hold myself," Soraya Banks said.
Sheriff Stines, 43 years old, was first elected sheriff in 2018 and reelected in 2022.
Judge Mullins served as a district judge since 2009. He was 54.
Laci Wright reflected on the chaos saying, "It was upsetting for everyone involved."
The motive in the shooting is unclear, according to Kentucky State Trooper Matt Gayheart.
The Letcher County Courthouse is temporarily closed, and court operations in the county are on hold, according to Jamie Neal, communications specialist for the Administrative office of the courts.
