A man suspected of fatally shooting a Kentucky trooper Sunday night was shot and killed by state police early Monday morning.
Suspect in Sunday Night Murder of Kentucky Trooper Killed by State Police
A man suspected of fatally shooting a Kentucky trooper Sunday night was shot and killed by state police early Monday morning.

Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder (Photo: Kentucky State Police)
Authorities said 25-year-old Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks, of Missouri, was located in a remote rural area near I-24 around 7 a.m., following an all-night manhunt. Johnson-Shanks was armed with a handgun and did not comply with several commands to drop his weapon, Sgt. Mike Webb told FoxNews .
"That gave the trooper closest to him no choice but to fire his agency-issued weapon, striking him multiple times," Webb said.
Johnson-Shanks was arrested while police waited for EMS at the scene and he died from his injuries at a local hospital at 8:23 a.m. Webb said he wasn't aware of any statements Johnson-Shanks may have made prior to being shot.
A statement released early Monday said that Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder, 31, was pronounced dead at a Princeton, Ky., hospital after being shot multiple times late Sunday night. Ponder had been a state trooper since January of this year.
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