KSP: Smithers planned to shoot cop, girlfriend
May 19—GREENUP — The suspect behind the shooting of officer Tommy Robinson told his girlfriend he planned to shoot her and a police officer, according to court records.
According to warrant filed in the May 2 shooting, 41-year-old Jon Smithers, of Catlettsburg, had held his girlfriend hostage and beat her with a gun, making threats that he'd kill her and a police officer.
When his cell phone was recovered, state police said they found 1,200 files of child sexual abuse material on it, many of which consisted of toddlers being molested by adults.
Robinson was shot in the neck at around 2:47 a.m. during a call for a suspicious person at the Bayberry Townhomes in Flatwoods, according to police reports.
Prior to being flown to Cabell-Huntington Hospital for treatment, Robinson gave officers a description of the assailant, court records show.
During the manhunt for Smithers, officers found his girlfriend at the Flatwoods Super Quik sleeping next to the kerosene pump, the warrant states.
The girlfriend's hair was matted with blood and she had cuts on her lips, records show.
The girlfriend then told officers she'd been assaulted by Smithers, who knew he had an active warrant for his arrest (for child sexual abuse material in Boyd County) and he would "not be going back to prison."
When asked if Smithers was the shooter, the girlfriend replied, "Well, he said 'I have one in the chamber and it's either for you or a cop.'"
Following the shooting, state police said Smithers forced his girlfriend to run with him as he ditched his phone and a holster.
Court records show when Smithers was spotted by Trooper Hartsell at around 7:20 a.m., he raised his hands as if to surrender. He then pointed at the trooper's cruiser, causing the officer to turn for a moment, and took off on foot, records show.
After a brief foot chase across a parking lot, the trooper drew his TASER and lit Smithers up, taking him to the ground, records show.
During a search of Smithers, police found weed and meth, records show.
Two days later, officers turned up a pistol believed to be used in the shooting in the backseat of an old Plymouth, records show.
Smithers is being held at the Boyd County Detention Center on multiple charges, including attempted murder of a police officer, possession of child sexual abuse material, second-degree assault, possession of a handgun by a convicted felon and first-degree fleeing on foot.
Smithers also has pending cases against him in Boyd County and served nearly two decades in prison for attempted murder.
(606) 326-2653 — henry@dailyindependent.com
