Man accused of killing 2 police officers and a deputy dies in Kentucky jail

 

According to a news release issued by the Pikeville Police Department on Wednesday, the man suspected of killing three law enforcement officials in Kentucky last June has passed away in custody.

At the Pike County Detention Center, Lance Storz, 50, was discovered unconscious shortly after 6:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, according to police.

According to the press announcement, Storz was transferred to Pikeville Medical Center where he was later declared deceased. Online jail records show that he is no longer listed at the Pike County Correctional Center.

 

He was discovered in the restroom, according to the “first information that we were provided yesterday,” Floyd County Commonwealth Attorney Brent Turner told CNN in a phone interview on Tuesday.

Turner stated that although an autopsy report was not yet available, “it looked” Storz had “harmed himself in some form and was dead.”

According to a press release from the Pikeville Police Department, the state police, Pikeville Police, and the coroner’s office are all investigating his death. For further details on Storz’s autopsy, CNN has contacted the Pike County Coroner’s office.

Storz had a court appearance scheduled for March 23 that would have been his first since he was arraigned on his indictment, the prosecutor said.

After that hearing, Floyd County Sheriff John Hunt told reporters that deputies on June 30 were serving a warrant related to a domestic violence incident in the town of Allen when Storz opened fire with a high-powered rifle.

The Sheriff’s Office identified the officers killed as Floyd County Deputy William Petry and Prestonsburg Police Capt. Ralph Frasure. Officer and K-9 handler Jacob R. Chaffins was also killed as was his dog. Several other law enforcement officers were wounded.

“They encountered … pure hell when they arrived. They had no chance,” the sheriff said, adding later the deputies had not even made contact with the suspected shooter when the gunfire began.

The shooter seemed to have had a plan and “pretty much executed that plan almost to precision,” Hunt said. The sheriff said it took several hours to figure out where the gunman was firing from.

“(The suspect) was a sheer terrorist … he was just a terrorist on a mission,” the sheriff said.

The gunman also had “a lot” of ammunition and a body armor vest, Floyd County officials said at a later news conference.