By Bruce Schreiner
Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Three people were found dead in an eastern Kentucky home where a man barricaded himself, shot and wounded a sheriff’s deputy and set the mobile home on fire, a sheriff said Monday.
The bodies recovered from the burned home were believed to be two women and the suspected shooter, Rowan County Sheriff Matt Sparks said. Authorities converged on the rural home near Morehead on Sunday after the suspect called 911 to report he had shot his girlfriend, the sheriff said.
“Our belief is that he shot both the female subjects, set the place on fire and took his own life,” Sparks said.
The victims, badly burned by the fire, had not yet been identified pending autopsies in Frankfort.
The suspect opened fire from inside the home when officers arrived, the sheriff said.
Rowan County sheriff’s deputy Baker Hollis was shot in the arm just above the wrist, Sparks said. Officers returned fire while recovering the deputy, Kentucky State Police said. Hollis was treated at a hospital and released. No other officers were injured.
The suspect fired at least three different types of weapons, based on the sound, and kept moving around the mobile home, Sparks said.
“It was almost like he was trying to draw officers in there,” the sheriff said. “He was back far enough in the residence that they didn’t even see him as he was firing on them.”
Sparks said he spoke briefly with the suspect by phone three times during the standoff. The man said he wanted to talk to the FBI and CIA but abruptly hung up each time, he said.
“He was just rambling,” the sheriff said. “He was pretty much out of it.”
The standoff lasted at least two hours before the residence became engulfed in flames, he said. Officers didn’t enter the burning home immediately because they didn’t know if the man was alive and able to open fire on them, he said.
“Basically the home had burned down before we could get the fire department in there to put the flames out,” he said.
Sad ending to today’s situation to pass along. Three people are dead, two women and the man police say was the shooter. @WKYT pic.twitter.com/YTgNkm1Jsl
— CaitlinWKYT (@CaitlinWKYT) January 9, 2017