Authorities say that a man who was fatally shot Monday morning after killing a Kentucky State Police trooper the night before was not alone in his vehicle when he fled a traffic stop.
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In June, 23-year-old Eric K. Chrisman was killed while responding to a reckless driving complaint. He graduated from the KSP Training Academy in January.
Just after 11 p.m. eastern time, Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder stopped a suspect on the interstate.
The driver took off during the Sunday night stop on a rural stretch of interstate. After several miles, Johnson-Shanks abruptly stopped and caused Ponder’s cruiser to rear-end his vehicle.
Kentucky State Police said Shanks’ 18-year-old niece, Abrea Shanks, was one of the women in the vehicle .
Ponder was taken to Caldwell Medical Center in Princeton, where he died about an hour later. Neither of the other adults in the vehicle had a driver’s license, Thomas added.
The suspect ran away on foot and has been identified as Joseph Johnson Shanks, 25, of Missouri. 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. The juvenile passengers were released to a relative.
Calls by The Associated Press to a home telephone listing for Johnson-Shanks went unanswered Monday. Police said he should be considered armed and unsafe .
In several photos, Johnson-Shanks is seen with his hands raised in the air with the caption, “hands up don’t shoot” – a phrase which originated from the unarmed teen’s death.
Troopers saw him holding a firearm and instructed him to drop the weapon. Mr. Shanks was then taken into custody after he was shot. Lyon County EMS Director Michael Wiggins said Johnson-Shanks had suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
The ongoing investigation has shut down I-24 from mile marker 45 to 56. “We know the risks that are out there and we accept those risks”.
“We owe them a whole, whole lot”. His results are pending.
An autopsy is scheduled for Johnson-Shanks on September 15 in Madisonville, Ky.
“It’s tragic on both sides”, Thomas said.
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Locally, troopers say they’re hurting for the family of the fallen officer.
