Suspect caught after Kentucky state trooper fatally shot

He was responding to a reckless driving complaint when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a tractor-trailor truck. He graduated from the KSP Training Academy in January.

A U.S. Navy veteran, he was the second Kentucky State trooper to die in the line of duty this year.

Officials said the trooper closest to Johnson-Shanks had no choice but to shoot him. The suspect abruptly stopped at mile marker 49, causing Ponder’s auto to rear-end the vehicle, according to KSP.

A statement released early Monday said that Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder, 31, was pronounced dead at a Princeton, Ky., hospital after being shot multiple times.

One of the women and both children have since been released, Thomas said, noting that their names have been withheld because they are not facing charges. He was then transferred to the St. Louis County Jail on August . 10, 2014, on the outstanding warrant for “interfering with a police officer” and on a failure to appear warrant from a previous charge of property damage. She was a passenger in the vehicle and a niece to Joseph Thomas Johnston-Shanks. Multiple agencies are assisting with the investigation.

Police had said Johnson-Shanks fled on foot and was found hours later in a rural, wooded area. Instead, according to Thomas, Johnson-Shanks aimed at police and was shot. Mr. Shanks was then taken into custody after he was shot. He died at a medical center in Princeton, Kentucky.

Funeral services for will be held at 11 a.m., Friday, September 18 at the Severns Valley Baptist Church, 1100 Ring Road, Elizabethtown, KY 42701.

Police searched for Johnson-Shanks throughout the night.

“We’re all just holding together the best that we can and just continue to do our jobs”, Thomas said. An SRT Trooper fired his weapon striking Johnson-Shanks.

The victim is identified as Trooper Cameron Ponder, 31. His results are pending. “At 7 o’clock I heard a gunshot”, Kotlarich said.

A Kentucky State Police trooper wanted to do a favor for the driver he pulled over late at night.

Ponder had just put in papers to transfer to his home post in Elizabethtown.