A judge was fatally shot in his chambers by a local sheriff after an argument at a courthouse in Whitesburg, Ky., on Thursday, state police say. District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A Kentucky district court judge was fatally shot in his chambers on Thursday, and the local sheriff has been charged with murder in connection with the slaying, authorities said.

After word spread that Letcher County Sheriff Shawn Mickey Stines was charged with first-degree murder, and that Kevin Mullins, a district judge, had been shot, Kentucky leaders and community members saw yet another local act of gun violence make national news.