Kentucky Threats Against Police Continue After Loss of Officer
Jason Ellis, 33, was ambushed last month in Kentucky, and the police department he worked for received more threats against officers. The police department is working to ensure that officers are kept safe while investigating the source of the threats.
"We don't even know if any of the threats are credible, but obviously we're going to treat them as if they are credible," Chief Rick McCubbin told the Associated Press. "Our patrol officers are still out covering beats and making those runs. We are not going to do our job in fear. We're not going to retreat in any way."
Ellis stopped his vehicle to pick up debris on a highway exit ramp when he was shot multiple times with a shotgun. Police believe that the debris was deliberately placed across the road in order to get him to stop and be killed. The entire police department was shattered by the loss, and is now dealing with more threats.
So far, the department has received a written threat as well as a phone call from someone claiming to be aware of a verbal threat against the police. The person claimed that the attacks would not stop, that "there are more to come."
McCubbin told The Louisville Courier-Journal that he received a letter last Thursday warning that "there were more officers that would go down like the first one."
The FBI has been called in to help with the investigation, but the police department is keeping quiet about any leads or further details about the threats.
"I've been a trooper for 19 years, and I've never seen anything like this, the level of planning," Trooper Norman Chaffins told ABC News after Ellis' murder. "We don't have any leads at this time, but we don't believe kids were responsible because of how calculated the crime was. The location was obvious. Officer Ellis didn't even have time to remove his gun."
"I can assure you we won't give up on this person until we have him either in custody or in the front side of one of our weapons, and I personally hope the latter is the choice," McCubbin said.
