Kentucky trooper shooting suspect is shot, killed

Residents in the area are urged to use caution because Johnson-Shanks is considered armed and risky. Two juveniles under the age of six were also in the vehicle.

Trooper Ponder was trying find a hotel room for the group because no one else in the in the vehicle had a driver’s license.

A chase ensued until the driver abruptly stopped at about mile marker 49.

“The suspect fled the scene on foot”, according to a statement on the Kentucky State Police website. Ponder was taken to a hospital in Princeton, Kentucky, where he died shortly before midnight, the release said. Thomas said Johnson-Shanks drew a weapon at police, ignored commands to drop it, and was shot.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Public Information Officer Keith Todd says the trooper was involved in a high-speed chase when the shooting happened around 11:30 p.m. Sunday.

Multiple law enforcement agencies are assisting with the investigation and search for Johnson-Shanks.

As if this loss and the violence surrounding it did not sting enough, Ponder was the second KSP Trooper lost in a matter of weeks. Chrisman died in a visitors crash whereas responding to a reckless driving grievance. The 25-year-old suspect fired several shots killing the trooper, according to KSP.

Shanks was a passenger in the vehicle, along with three other people.

“Trooper Ponder graduated in January 2015 from our state police academy”, said Trooper Jay Thomas of Kentucky State Police. That suspect fled when Ponder approached, prompting a pursuit.

Ponder was stationed at Post 1 in Mayfield and was assigned to the Trigg County area.

Thomas says the other occupants of the vehicle were detained but not charged. She was lodged in the Caldwell County Jail.

Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks in Ferguson, Mo., August 18, 2014. The children were released to a relative. Instead, according to Thomas, Johnson-Shanks aimed at police and was shot.

Authorities found Johnson-Shanks in a wooded area near Interstate 24 about 7 a.m. Monday.

“It’s tragic on both sides”, Thomas said.

As details emerge about Johnson-Shanks, his Facebook page makes it clear that the murder of the white police officer is another in a recent string of murders by black activists. “Once the air- ground ambulance got there, the decision was made that it would be, uh, better just to transport him by ground ambulance”.

Thomas said an autopsy will be conducted today at the Medical Examiner’s Office in Louisville. His results are pending.

An autopsy is scheduled for Johnson-Shanks on September 15 in Madisonville, Ky. “It’s gonna be tough in the coming days and for the family”.

The fallen trooper was a star athlete who turned down a track scholarship at Western Kentucky University to join the Navy. “He was just a wonderful person and I keep thinking (about) the last moments of his life”, Webb said.

President Barack Obama has given the movement tangible support as well, from using the Department of Justice to “investigate” those citizens and law enforcement personnel who defended themselves against violent felons supported by the movement, to sending Administration officials to the funerals of these same violent criminals.