A traffic stop turned into a chase, which turned deadly – first for a Kentucky state trooper, then for the eastern Missouri man who authorities believe shot him.
The episode began around 10:20 p.m. Sunday when Trooper Cameron Ponder pulled over a car driven by Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks along Interstate 24 in Trigg County. Two women and two small children were in the vehicle with Johnson-Shanks, who is from Florissant, Missouri, according to Kentucky State Police spokesman Jay Thomas.
Ponder didn’t tell dispatchers the reason for the traffic stop. But when he learned that the 25-year-old Johnson-Shanks’ license had been suspended, he contacted a local deputy to arrange for a hotel room, so he didn’t have to take the driver to jail, Thomas said.
Things went terribly wrong when Johnson-Shanks took off.
According to the state police spokesman, Ponder followed until the vehicle he was chasing abruptly pulled over about 10 miles away in Lyon County just before 11 p.m.
Ponder pulled his patrol car up against the other vehicle. Then, Thomas said, Johnson-Shanks leaned out his window and fired – striking the hood of Ponder’s car, his windshield and the trooper himself.
Another deputy arrived on the scene shortly thereafter and called for an ambulance for Ponder. The U.S. Navy veteran later died at a hospital in Princeton, a community about 50 miles east of Paducah.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear confirmed in a post on X that there was a second shooting at the church.
“Please pray for everyone affected by these senseless acts of violence, and let’s give thanks for the swift response by the Lexington Police Department and Kentucky State Police,” Beshear wrote. “Details are still emerging, and we will share more information as available.”
State police did not say whether the suspect had any connection to another shooting reported at around the same time near Blue Grass Airport, about 16 miles northwest of the church.
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