Suspect who allegedly killed Kentucky state trooper dead after manhunt

PRINCETON, Ky., Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks, the suspect who allegedly killed Kentucky State Police Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder, died Monday after a manhunt.

Johnson-Shanks, 25, from Missouri, who allegedly killed Ponder late Sunday after a nine-mile pursuit, was shot and arrested in a small wooded area near some homes. He was taken away in an ambulance but died at a local hospital.

Ponder, 31, who graduated from the Kentucky State Police Training Academy in January, conducted a traffic stop at about 10:20 p.m. Sunday on Interstate 24's westbound 58 mile marker. The suspect's vehicle fled from the stop.

"A pursuit ensued with the suspect stopping abruptly around the 49 mile marker, causing the front of Trooper Ponder's police cruiser to make contact with the rear of the suspect vehicle," Kentucky State Police said in a statement. "The driver of the suspect vehicle fired several shots into the police cruiser striking the hood, windshield and Trooper Ponder multiple times. The suspect fled the scene on foot."

Ponder was taken to the Caldwell Medical Center in Princeton, Ky., where he was declared dead at 11:41 p.m.

Ponder's sister Kelly said she was "heartbroken" over her brother's killing.

"Thank you for all the kind words. My brother was the best man in the world and did not deserve what happened to him," Kelly Ponder said in a statement. "Please pray for us. This was an enormous loss."