MARK MAYNARD

Kentucky Today

As the small eastern Kentucky community of Allen grapples with the aftermath of a shooting that took the lives of three police officers last week, a fund has been established to help the families of the fallen officers.

Donations can be made to the Floyd County Community Foundation at http://bit.ly/FloydCF.

There was a community prayer vigil on Friday outside the Floyd County Courthouse with dozens gathering.

The officers who died were Capt. Ralph Frasure and Officer Jacob Chaffins with the Prestonsburg Police Department and William Petry, a deputy with the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office.

The three were shot to death after officers went to serve a domestic violence order against Lance Storz on Thursday. Storz allegedly opened fire on police without warning. In addition to the three officers who died, several others were injured. The county emergency manager also was injured and a police dog, Drago, was killed. Storz faces charges of murder and attempted murder. The shooting took place in the little town of Allen of less than 200 population.

During an arraignment hearing before Floyd District Judge Eric D. Hall on Friday, Lance P. Storz, 49, of Main Street, Allen, Hall entered a not guilty plea on Storz’ behalf.

Hall ordered Storz held on a $10 million bond.

“There will be substantially more charges,” said Floyd County Attorney Keith Bartley. “The charges from last (Thursday) night were in the middle of a war zone basically and done basically without information that was definitive at that time. There should be substantially more charges.”

Bartley said Storz has been charged with crimes that are death penalty eligible, but the decision on whether to seek the death penalty will be is up to Floyd Commonwealth’s Attorney Brent Turner.

According to the arrest citation, beginning at approximately 6:44 p.m., June 30, Storz used a rifle to fire multiple rounds at multiple police officers at and around his residence. The rounds caused the death of two police officers at the scene, injured five additional officers, injured the emergency management director and caused the death of a K9 officer.

In addition to charges of murder of a police officer, Storz faces multiple charges of attempted murder of a police officer.

According to court documents, a domestic violence case was opened against Storz on June 30, with Judge Hall issuing an order for emergency protection that day.

Floyd County Sheriff John Hunt said after the arraignment hearing Friday that four officers went to Storz’ residence on Thursday as part of the investigation into a domestic case and encountered the unthinkable.

Nationally, shootings of police officers are up 22 percent with 178 killed so far in 2022.