Sheriff’s deputies who fatally shot KY police officer knew and worked with him
At least some of the deputies involved in the fatal shooting of a Florence police officer on Friday knew and worked with him.
Four Boone County sheriff’s deputies fired shots at Dustin Zink while responding to a domestic violence call on Lely Court in Florence on Friday night, according to Kentucky State Police.
Zink, 37, of Florence, was off-duty at the time and “was armed, displaying a weapon while threatening both self-harm and harm to others at the scene,” KSP said.
Zink was shot after state police said he “fired his weapon multiple times” while the sheriff’s deputies tried to negotiate with him.
Officers rendered first aid to Zink at the scene, and he was pronounced dead at St. Elizabeth Healthcare Edgewood Hospital.
Major Philip Ridgell, of the Boone County Sheriff’s Office, said officers with the Florence Police Department and the sheriff’s office work together on calls “every single day and every single night,” and he said quite a few deputies had become close to Zink.
Ridgell said the deputies involved in the shooting, who have not been publicly identified, have been placed on paid administrative leave.
He said the department is working to provide resources to staff who need them.
“This is an unprecedented type of situation,” Ridgell said.
No one else was injured in the shooting. Ridgell said the address the deputies were dispatched to is in an unincorporated part of Boone County that is under the sheriff’s department’s jurisdiction.
Zink was hired as an officer with the Florence Police Department in 2017, and he had worked as a K-9 handler, according to previous Facebook posts by the department.
An obituary for Zink says he is survived by his wife and two children, as well as his parents, sister and “K-9 partner, Atos.”
He was a former kicker for the football team at Thomas More College and had also played collegiate soccer, the obituary stated.
Funeral services for Zink are scheduled for Friday morning at Crossroads Church in Florence, and visitation is scheduled for Thursday at the church.
The obituary states that the services and visitation are for “first responders, family and friends.”
A GoFundMe account set up to help Zink’s family had raised more than $16,000 toward its $26,000 goal by Tuesday night.
The Florence Police Department said in a statement shared by television station WXIX on Saturday that Zink “dedicated his career to protecting our community with honor, integrity, and compassion, leaving a lasting impact on the fellow officers and the citizens he served.”
“While we cannot comment on the circumstances of this investigation, we believe one moment does not define a person,” the statement read.
The Kentucky State Police Critical Incident Response Team is investigating the shooting.
