Kentucky police: Suspect in wife’s death shot by officer behind school
ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. — A man who allegedly killed his wife at home was fatally shot by police behind a Kentucky high school while it was in session Wednesday, Kentucky State Police said.
Jesse Kilgus, 51, was shot in his van outside John Hardin High School in Elizabethtown, where he went to check his child out of school, Trooper Jeff Gregory said.
News outlets report the shooting happened around 1 p.m. Gregory said no students or school employees were harmed.
Gregory said police found the body of Ruth Marie Kilgus, 46, and learned Jesse Kilgus planned to pick up his child from school and confronted him there.
Gregory did not yet have details about the circumstances that led to the shooting but said seven officers from three departments fired shots.
"Obviously nobody ever wants this situation to happen, and it's unfortunate that it happened in a school parking lot, but because there's great cooperation between all three police departments that were involved," Gregory said. "We did everything right as far as I'm concerned."
Hardin County Schools Superintendent Teresa Morgan said the student involved will receive trauma counseling after losing both parents Wednesday.
"He is safe at this time and he is a now with extended family," Morgan said.
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin praised police via Twitter on Wednesday evening.
"Suspect was attempting to enter a high school in Hardin County, KY," the tweet said. "Area schools were temporarily locked down as a safety precaution, but the prompt response by law enforcement officers ensured that no harm came to any students or teachers."
The fatal shooting near the high school comes as American communities are seeking ways to impose tougher security measures in the wake of the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead. In Kentucky, a shooting in January at Marshall County High School killed two students and injured more than a dozen others.
