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State Police Close Their Investigation Into Shooting Of Deputy Morales

Posted at 3:06 PM, Jun 11, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-11 18:22:12-04

SCOTT COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18)– Kentucky State Police have now closed their investigation into who shot Scott County Deputy Jaime Morales.

KSP said that Morales was accidentally shot by another officer as they tried to arrest a fugitive, but as far as who fired the shot, investigators say that they do not know.

A U.S. Marshal found 57-year-old Edward Reynolds asleep at a rest stop along I-75. He was wanted on armed bank robberies in Florida and North Carolina. The U.S. Marshal was alone and wanted assistance in making the arrest.

Officers and deputies came to help. Investigation records reveal that their plan was to block Reynolds’ car in and surround him. A witness stated that “five or six officers” were on one side of the vehicle and one officer was on the other side.

The night took a devastating turn.

Morales was hit by a bullet, paralyzing him. Interviews with the officers and deputies there that night reveal what happened in the moments before Morales fell to the ground.

“We have our weapons pointed out. Flashlights on. We all approached the vehicle on the driver’s side and we yell at him just to show us your hands. ‘Show us your hands,’ and he wouldn’t comply with us,” said one officer.

The officers near the car said that they saw Reynolds reach for a gun. Morales told investigators he saw the gun as well.

“He digs in the center console, pulls out a gun. And I think I saw him load it and rack it,” Morales said in the investigation.

Officers told investigators that they were worried about their lives, they yelled ‘gun’ and opened fire.

“I made the decision to waste rounds on him, and it seemed like there were ten other guns firing in sync with me after the fact,” said one officer who was interviewed.

State Police say that there is no evidence that shows Reynolds fired his gun that night. They believe that Morales was accidentally shot by someone in law enforcement.

Morales told investigators that he knew someone on his team accidentally hit him because he knew at that point, Reynolds had been neutralized.

“At that time, that’s when I heard the last pop. And that was the pop that brought me down,” said Morales.