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 violence erupted after an argument inside the courthouse, police said. It wasn’t clear what led to the shooting.

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 community of Whitesburg, Kentucky is in shock following the aftermath of a shooting resulting in a judge's death and the arrest of the county's sheriff.

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.

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

The fatal shooting stunned the tight-knit town of Whitesburg, the county seat, with a population of about 1,700 people, 145 miles southeast of Lexington.

A Kentucky sheriff faces murder charges in connection with the deadly shooting of a local judge in his chambers on Thursday afternoon. Authorities say Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines, 43, shot District Judge Kevin Mullins,

A sheriff charged with murder in the shooting of a rural Kentucky judge in his courthouse chambers is accused in a federal lawsuit of ignoring abuse by one of his deputies, who later pleaded guilty to