Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines, 43, was taken into custody at the scene without incident, police said. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder.

Stines, 43, shot District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, on Thursday afternoon after an argument inside the Letcher County Courthouse in Whitesburg, Kentucky.Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.

Kentucky State Police are searching for motive as they investigate the fatal shooting of a district judge by a sheriff after the two had an argument inside the judge’s chambers, according to police.

WHITESBURG, Ky. — The sheriff charged with murder in the shooting of a rural Kentucky judge in his courthouse chambers was accused in a federal lawsuit of failing to investigate allegations that one of his deputies repeatedly sexually abused a woman in the same judge’s chambers.

The local sheriff has been charged with murder in the killing. The governor says the judge was fatally shot Thursday in his chambers. Police say the sheriff opened fire following an argument.

The police say a sheriff shot District Judge Kevin Mullins inside the courthouse on Thursday afternoon before turning himself in.

The Letcher County sheriff is expected to be charged with murder in the death of Judge Kevin Mullins, Kentucky State Police said Thursday night.

A judge was shot and killed in the Letcher County Courthouse on Thursday, according to Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. Beshear stated in a social media post that he had been informed that a district judge in Letcher County had been shot and killed in his chambers Thursday afternoon.