A Tennessee man is dead after being shot by police near John Hardin High School in Elizabethtown.
Police say Thomas Everett, 39, stole a Vine Grove police car before the fatal shooting.
Earlier in the night, he was drinking at Rainbow Tavern with his girlfriend, 48-year-old Teresa Hardin, in Vine Grove and refused to pay a $200 tab.
When Vine Grove Police found Everett, he fled in a car and crashed it. Officer Walter Karr was looking for him outside of his police cruiser, when Everett stole the police car, struck Karr and continued his attempted escape. Karr was treated and released from the hospital.
Radcliff Police were able to locate the police cruiser and trapped Everett near John Hardin High School.
“During that time, a gun was observed that the subject had and the subject did not respond to commands from the officers and the officers fired upon the subject striking him,” said Bruce Reeves of Kentucky State Police.
Kentucky State Police say the weapon was actually a toy gun, but they believed it was real at the time.
Everett had numerous warrants out for his arrest. He was taken to Hardin Memorial Hospital where he died of his injuries from the shooting.
