Cops have caught a man accused of shooting and killing a Kentucky State Police trooper after a car stop.
Watch below:
The man accused of shooting and killing a Kentucky State Police trooper has been taken into custody, according to Lyon County Judge Executive Wade White.
Details about the capture of 25-year-old Joseph Johnson-Shanks have not been released.
According to KSP, Trooper Joseph Ponder stopped a car on Interstate 24 at mile marker 58 at 10:20 p.m.
The driver fled from the stop, which initiated a high-speed chase. The suspect then abruptly stopped at mile marker 49, causing Ponder’s car to hit the vehicle, according to KSP.
Police said the driver fired multiple shots at the police cruiser, which hit the trooper, the hood and the windshield.
Ponder was taken to Caldwell Medical Center, where he died from his injuries at 11:41 p.m.
Officers later found the suspect’s car abandoned a few miles away.
Ponder, 31, was a native of Rineyville, KY. He graduated from the KSP Training Academy in January.
Just awful. Pray for Joseph Ponder and his grieving family.
UPDATE!
The earlier report that Shanks had been captured was wrong – he was shot and killed by cops:
The man suspected of gunning down a rookie Kentucky state trooper was shot and killed early Monday after a massive manhunt, authorities said.
Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks, 25, is believed to have fatally shot Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder after a traffic stop and subsequent nine-mile car chase late Sunday.
Lyon County Executive Wade White told NBC News that Johnson-Shanks was cornered Monday in a small wooded area near some homes. Authorities commanded Johnson-Shanks to drop his weapon — but when he refused, police said, a trooper shot him.
The suspect was taken to a nearby medical facility, where he later died, authorities said.