A police officer in Bardstown Kentucky was shot to death in an ambush along the highway exit ramp after leaving his to remove debris from from the road, ABC News reported.
State Police believe the debris was intentionally placed to draw someone out of the target or someone else. Regardless, the department remains stunned and saddened by the attack.
"I've been a trooper for 19 years and I've never seen anything like this, this level of planning," Trooper Norman Chaffins with the Kentucky State Police said.
Jason Ellis, a 33-year-old K-9 Officer was on his way home close to 3 a.m. early Saturday morning when he stopped on the Exit 34 of the Blue Grass Parkway in Nelson County, 10 miles from Bardstown. As he removed debris from the roadway, he was shot multiple times.
"It wasn't a traffic stop that went bad. It wasn't an arrest that went bad," Bardstown Chief of Police Rick McCubbin said. "That someone actually took the time to plan and set it up makes it that much more, obviously hurtful, but it makes you mad."
The shooting took place in a rural area, with no witness to come forward yet.
"I can assure you we won't give up on this person until we have him either in custody or in the front side of one of our weapons and I personally hope the latter is the choice," said Chief McCubbin.
Officer Ellis is survived by his wife and two sons. He was a seven-year veteran of the Bardstown Police Department and is the first officer killed in the line of duty. For the agency, which is about 40 miles south of Louisville.
