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Deputy Sheriff Anthony Rakes was shot after stopping to assist a motorist. (November 14, 2012) |
LEBANON — A Marion County deputy sheriff was gunned down early this morning by a man who allegedly was on his way to Lincoln County to harm his ex-wife.
Deputy Anthony Rakes, 31, was shot about 2 a.m. after he stopped to assist a motorist whose vehicle was stopped in the roadway of U.S. 68 near Marion County High School just west of Lebanon city limits. Rakes later died during surgery at Springview Hospital in Lebanon, Kentucky State Police said.
Police later arrested Dewayne Shipp, 49, of McDaniels in Breckinridge County. He was taken into custody without incident in Campbellsville. Shipp was being transferred to the University of Louisville Medical Center this morning for treatment of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his left leg, Trooper Billy Gregory said.
Gregory said Shipp’s mother had called authorities in Breckinridge County earlier to report that her son had stolen her 2007 KIA, was armed with a gun and was headed to Lincoln County, where his ex-wife and daughter live.
Rakes was unaware of that situation when he approached the vehicle that was stopped in the middle of the road, Gregory said.
“He had no way of knowing he (Shipp) might have had bad intentions,” Gregory said. “He was probably coming up to the vehicle for a welfare check or motorist assist. That was probably his frame of mind.”
Lincoln County Sheriff Curt Folger said he was called out shortly after 2 a.m. to stake out a section of Pine Grove Road in the Crab Orchard area where Shipp’s ex-wife and daughter live.
Folger said he was advised that Shipp was armed and dangerous and might be headed that way in search of his ex-wife.
Rakes had been a deputy for six years after starting his law enforcement career with the Lebanon Police Department. Retired Lebanon Sgt. Elisa McHolan said this morning that she knew Rakes even before he was an officer. Rakes worked at a local factory and also pumped gas at a station where McHolan regularly filled up, she said.
“He always told me, ‘I want to be a police officer some day,’” McHolan recalled. “I told him when we were hiring and he got on.”
“He was such a quiet, soft-spoken guy. He was real laid back. Everybody loved him. This is just awful.”
