Updated: Coroner identifies armed man killed in confrontation with Scott County deputy
An armed man who ignored a command to drop his weapon was shot and killed by a Scott County sheriff’s deputy Tuesday night, according to Kentucky State Police and the sheriff’s office.
The shooting occurred around 7:45 p.m. when a deputy arrived at the scene of an alleged assault and found an armed suspect who refused to drop his gun, according to Scott County Sgt. Eddie Hart. The deputy who shot and killed the man has been placed on administrative leave, Hart said in a Facebook post.
The shooting killed Chester T. McDonald, a 44-year-old Georgetown resident, according to Scott County Coroner John Goble. He was pronounced dead at 8:20 p.m. after being shot multiple times, Goble said.
The deputy initially responded to a report of a physical assault involving a gun in the 100 block of Raccoon Run around 7:45 p.m., according to the sheriff’s office. State Trooper Stuart Jackson initially said the altercation was a “domestic incident.” State police have since said the initiall incident was a “physical altercation.”
McDonald was allegedly pointing the gun at witnesses outside, according to the sheriff’s office.
When the deputy arrived, he found McDonald armed and gave him “repeated commands” to drop the gun, according to the sheriff’s office. McDonald moved toward the deputy while still armed, at which point the deputy shot and killed him, according to the sheriff’s office.
Pete Combs Jr., a neighbor in the area where the shooting took place, told WKYT that McDonald tried to shoot multiple people before he was shot.
“Well, he runs up on us, just a couple of feet from here with a firearm and tried to discharge it,” Combs told WKYT, the Herald-Leader’s reporting partner. “Fires it three times and with the help and grace of God, it didn’t shoot. And then he points it at me and does the same thing. He takes the tip of the gun and points it at the side of my head and squeezes and it doesn’t fire again.”
That’s when the first deputy arrived on scene, according to Combs.
“The officer was like ‘Sir, I see a weapon you have in your hand. Just put it down.’ The guy still, he didn’t heed the officer’s warnings and from that, the officer had to do what he had to do in order to preserve himself and the lives of the people around,” Combs told WKYT.
The deputy was not injured, according to the sheriff’s office.
The name of the deputy hadn’t been released.
KSP’s Critical Incident Response Team was conducting an investigation into the incident, Jackson said. The Critical Incident Response Team frequently investigates officer-involved shootings.
This story was originally published October 6, 2020 at 11:11 PM.
