Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines, 43, was taken into custody at the scene without incident, police said. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder.

The death of Kevin Mullins Thursday shocked close-knit Whitesburg, Kentucky. The sheriff charged with murder is accused of ignoring sexual abuse inside the courthouse.

A judge was fatally shot in his chambers by a local sheriff after an argument at a courthouse in Whitesburg, Ky., on Thursday, state police say. District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, was pronounced dead at the scene.

WHITESBURG, Ky. (AP) — Residents of a tiny Appalachian town struggled Friday to cope with a shooting involving two of its most prominent citizens: a judge who was gunned down in his courthouse chambers and a local sheriff charged with his murder.

Whitesburg residents gathered outside of the Letcher County Veterans Memorial Museum to pray for the community after Sheriff Mickey Stines allegedly shot and killed District Judge Kevin Mullins Thursday.

The sheriff charged with murder in the shooting of a rural Kentucky judge in his courthouse chambers was accused in a federal lawsuit of failing to investigate allegations that one of his deputies repeatedly sexually abused a woman in the same judge's chambers.

Kentucky State Police say Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines shot District Judge Kevin Mullins multiple times following an argument.

Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, was fatally shot in a courthouse at Whitesburg, Kentucky, on Thursday afternoon, according to Kentucky State Police.

Authorities say a judge in a rural Kentucky county was shot and killed at the local courthouse on Thursday FRANKFORT, Ky. — A judge in a rural Kentucky county was shot and killed in his courthouse chambers Thursday,