The following is a statement from Adair County Sheriff Gary Roy regarding incidents that have occurred over the past couple of weeks...
It’s been an extremely busy last 2 weeks and I wanted to bring the public up to speed on the events that have transpired in Adair County that my office has been involved with.
On Tuesday, April 14th we had a horrible logging accident in Fairplay area that resulted in the loss of life of an Adair County man. Some of you may know few of the details on that and who was there. It was requested that an investigation be done on the accident. Due to what I felt was a conflict of interest with one of the people involved being the son of a former Adair County Deputy Sheriff and him also being a member of my church, we attempted to turn the case over to Kentucky State Police. Our office was notified on April 17th by Sgt. Billy Gregory that KSP would not be investigating the case due to it being accidental. Although it’s a tragic loss of life, we do not feel like there was anything intentional or any foul play involved.
On Monday, April 20th we had the tragic events that happened in southern Adair County on Chestnut Grove Rd. and in the Kelleyville/Mt. Carmel area where 4 Adair Countians lost their lives. We responded to Chestnut Grove Rd. to a male being shot. Upon arriving, Deputy Emily Wall was met with gunfire; Wall was able to exit her car and return fire. She was able to get a civilian safely to cover behind her patrol car. Even though Wall’s patrol car was struck 24 times, praise God neither Wall nor the civilian were hurt. The gunman continued to sporadically shoot at officers. The KSP SRT team arrived and took control of the scene. After negotiations failed, the gunman was shot and killed by KSP SRT. During the standoff it was learned that the gunman had killed his mother and his aunt.
I want to take this time to personally thank the Adair County Deputies, Columbia Police Department, Kentucky State Police, Adair County 911 Dispatch, Adair EMS, Adair County Emergency Management, Breeding Fire Department, Adair County Coroners Office, Air Medical, and all neighboring counties that had officers respond to help us in any way. If you brought food/water or offered to bring anything or assist in any way, Thank You. But most importantly if you prayed, thank you so much because I truly believe your prayers brought us all home safely to our families that night.
As you are aware, on Thursday, April 23rd we had a bomb threat at Adair County Elementary School. I had two resource officers on scene as well as myself, additional deputies, Columbia Police Department and Kentucky State Police. Deputy Mark Harris is leading the investigation. We will continue to follow up on additional information as we work with our school partners and law enforcement agencies.
I love you Adair County and God bless you all!!
Sheriff Gary Roy
