Stines, 43, shot District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, on Thursday afternoon after an argument inside the Letcher County Courthouse in Whitesburg, Kentucky.Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.

Kentucky State Police are searching for motive as they investigate the fatal shooting of a district judge by a sheriff after the two had an argument inside the judge’s chambers, according to police.

A district judge is dead and a county sheriff has been arrested in connection to a fatal shooting at the Letcher County Courthouse in Whitesburg, Kentucky.

A small eastern Kentucky community is reeling and searching for answers after a Letcher County sheriff was arrested and charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Judge Kevin Mullins in his district office Thursday afternoon.

The police say a sheriff shot District Judge Kevin Mullins inside the courthouse on Thursday afternoon before turning himself in.

Police charged Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines after the shooting of District Judge Kevin Mullins in his Whitesburg courthouse.

Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines has been arrested following a fatal shooting at the Letcher County Courthouse in Whitesburg on Thursday. In a message posted on X, formerly Twitter, Gov. Andy Beshear confirmed,

Kevin R. Mullins, 54, had been a District Judge in Letcher County, Kentucky for 15 years. Before that, he was a prosecutor in Letcher County, starting in 2001. The official title is assistant commonwealth’s attorney.

District Judge Kevin Mullins was shot inside the Letcher County Courthouse. Kentucky State Auditor of Public Accounts Allison Ball confirmed Mullins was the shooting victim in a post on social media.