A woman is dead and a man remains hospitalized following a double shooting Sunday in Knox County, according to Kentucky State Police-Harlan Public Affairs Officer Trooper First Class Walt Meachum.
Police believe Francis Elliott, 54, shot her boyfriend, Randy Hale, 42, seriously injuring him, before she turned the gun on herself, Meachum said.
The couple lived in a one-story brick home along KY 2418 near its intersection with U.S. 25E.
The Knox County Sheriff’s Department initially responded to a 911 call reporting a domestic dispute at the home. Meachum said his post was contacted to assist the sheriff’s department before 8 p.m.
Meachum said Elliott, who was found in a bedroom inside the home, was declared dead at the scene. An autopsy was expected to be completed in Frankfort Monday.
The bedroom had been intentionally set on fire, although Meachum said the fire had extinguished itself by the time police and firefighters arrived.
Hale was flown to the University of Kentucky Medical Center where he remained in serious condition as of late Monday.
Meachum said the Knox County Dispatch Center had received calls before reporting domestic disputes at the home Hale and Elliott shared.
A neighbor, Jean Huling, 66, said Hale owns the Vendor’s Mall and Pawn Shop, located across from his home.
Huling said she has known Hale since he was a baby and that he was raised in the house where he was found shot Sunday.
Although she didn’t know Elliott, Huling said Elliott and Hale had been together for “some time.”
Huling said she first learned about the shootings when her daughter called her after hearing about the shooting on the scanner. Huling said she later saw police and fire trucks parked around Hale’s home and crime scene tape had been draped around the property.
“All we can do now is pray for Randy,” Huling said, adding that it gave her “chills” to think that something so disturbing could happen in an otherwise “quiet” neighborhood.
“He was such a nice young man,” Huling said.
Kentucky State Police Detective Mark Mefford continues to investigate the shootings.
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