2 CHARGED, ONE FLOWN OUT AFTER SHOOTING

SALYERSVILLE – Two people were arrested and one flown out after a shooting incident last Thursday.

According to the police reports, Kentucky State Police Post 9 received a call from Magoffin County Dispatch requesting assistance on a shooting incident on June 6 at approximately 6 p.m.

According to the citation, KSP was informed that the victim who had been shot was being transported via helicopter and all of the witnesses were standing by at the Salyersville Fire Department on East Maple Street in Salyersville.

KSP Trooper M. Smith arrived at the fire department and took statements from the witnesses, inevitably arresting two of them.

According to the citation, Jonathan Keeton, 42, of West Liberty, reportedly told police, “I done something bad and messed up.”

Keeton told KSP he went to an old friend’s house on Middle Fork and stole a gun off of another person, stating he had no intention to steal the gun. He told police that when he saw the other person with the gun, he grabbed it from that person’s side, then walked back to the vehicle and this was when the vehicle was receiving gunfire, resulting in someone getting shot, according to the citation.

Keeton told police where the gun was located in the vehicle and Trooper Smith was able to locate the handgun under the driver’s seat. Keeton said he was sitting behind the driver’s seat and put the handgun there.

The handgun located was a 9mm Taurus, with KSP Post 13 advising that since it was stolen out of Breathitt County on that date, it had not been entered into the system, but they were able to confirm the handgun was stolen per the victim.

Furthermore, KSP confirmed Keeton was a convicted felon, having been found guilty for second-degree manslaughter in 2013 and complicity to burglary out of Ohio.

Keeton was arrested and transported to Big Sandy Regional Detention Center, where he remains at press time with a $2,500 cash bond, and charged with possession of a handgun by a convicted felon and receiving stolen property.

Another witness waiting at the fire department was Casey Payne, 38, of Lexington. When police arrived, they could smell the strong odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle involved in the shooting and police observed a large bullet hole in the back passenger side door, according to the arrest citation.

KSP found in the glovebox an orange pill bottle with several marijuana cigarettes, a plastic bag with marijuana buds inside. Inside that bag was a smaller bag with a crystal-like substance believed to be methamphetamine and marijuana oil/dab in wax paper, according to the citation.

When asked who the drugs belonged to, Payne reported stated, “Well, it’s my car.”

Payne identified her bag inside the car to police and told them there may be a small amount of drugs in it, as well, according to the police report.

A search of her bag yielded another small baggie with suspected methamphetamine and a single plastic bag with marijuana buds, as well as an aluminum container with two white oval pills believed to be Neurotin, several used needles and a smoking pipe with drug residue.

Payne was arrested and taken to the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center, where she remains at press time with a $1,000 cash bond. She is facing the following charges: first-degree possession of a controlled substance, first offense (methamphetamine); possession of marijuana; third-degree possession of a controlled substance, drug unspecified; buying or possessing drug paraphernalia; and prescription of a controlled substance not in proper container, first offense.

Editor’s Note: The indictment or charge of a person by a grand jury or otherwise is an accusation only and that person is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.