A small, tight-knit southeast Kentucky community has been reeling after their sheriff was arrested for the killing of a prominent district judge in his chambers Thursday – spurring residents to wonder what could have triggered the shooting and prompting calls for better courthouse security.

A rural southeast Kentucky town is at the center of national headlines after police said the sheriff shot and killed a district judge.

A Kentucky district judge was killed in a courthouse shooting Thursday, Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said. “Sadly, I have been informed that a district judge in Letcher County was shot and killed in his chambers this afternoon,