ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (AP) — A gunman who fatally shot a mother and daughter and injured another man outside a Kentucky courthouse led police on a highway pursuit before shooting himself Monday, police said.
The suspect, Christopher Elder, 46, was in critical condition after suffering a gunshot wound, Elizabethtown police said.
One of the victims, 37-year-old Erica Riley of Elizabethtown, had attended a court hearing in Hardin County with Elder Monday morning before the shooting, police said. The two had been in a relationship, Elizabethtown Police Chief Jeremy Thompson said.
Riley’s mother, 71-year-old Janet Rylee of Hardinsburg, was also shot and died after being transported to a hospital, police said in a media release Monday afternoon.
The shooting occurred in a parking lot and Elder fled the scene afterward, Thompson said.
Kentucky State Police said the suspect’s vehicle, identified as a silver 2008 Hyundai Elantra, was observed near Greenville. Officers with the Muhlenberg County Sherriff’s Office and Greenville Police Department attempted to conduct a traffic stop. The suspect failed to stop, and a pursuit ensued.
The pursuit crossed into Christian County and ended when Elder turned from Kentucky 189 onto Judges Chapel Road, where he stopped his vehicle in a parking lot.
Law enforcement from multiple agencies attempted to communicate with him, attempting to de-escalate the situation and negotiate a peaceful surrender. At 11:15 a.m., the suspect discharged a weapon, causing a self-inflicted wound.
Officers immediately rendered aid, and Elder was flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he is in critical condition. The investigations of the Christian County shooting incident, and the multi-county pursuit, remain ongoing by Kentucky State Police Post 2 personnel.
The man who was shot was also related to Riley, Thompson said. He was in stable condition, police said. His name has not been released.
Nearby schools were placed on a “soft lockdown,” after the shooting until police were able to determine it was an isolated incident, Thompson said.
Michael Cockerel told The Associated Press he was walking out of the Hardin County Justice Center Monday morning when he heard gunshots nearby. He heard a series of shots and initially thought it was a nail gun from a construction site.
But after he heard a few shots, “that’s when it clicked in my head that this might be gunshots,” Cockerel said.
Cockerel said he took cover behind a car in a nearby parking lot. When he thought the danger was over, he returned to the front of the courthouse and saw the victims across the street. He said he never saw the shooter.
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