Police identify officer who fatally shot Central Kentucky man during stand-off

The Nicholasville police officer who shot and killed 22-year-old Desman LaDuke has been identified by Kentucky State Police.

Joseph Horton was identified as the officer who shot LaDuke, ending a nearly three-hour standoff on Oct. 22. Horton is listed as a sniper for the Special Response Team at the Nicholasville Police Department, according to police documents obtained by the Herald-Leader through the Kentucky Open Records Act.

On that day, police say they were called to LaDuke’s home by family members for a welfare check. State police said LaDuke was reported to be suicidal and had a firearm. Officers responded to the scene and requested that the Nicholasville Police Department Crisis Negotiation Team respond, as well as the Special Response Team.

According to state and local police, after several hours of attempted negotiations with LaDuke, he allegedly brandished two firearms while inside the residence in front of a bedroom window.

“Despite repeated loud verbal commands by officers to drop the weapons, Mr. LaDuke pointed the firearms in the direction of the officers. Officer Joseph Horton recognized the immediate danger and fired his agency-issued firearm, striking Mr. LaDuke once,” state police said in a news release.

Nicholasville police officers are permitted to fire their guns “provided the officer is using the firearm only to prevent the death or serious physical injury to himself/herself or another person,” according to the department’s policies and procedures, which were accessed by the Herald-Leader through the Kentucky Open Records Act.

Emergency medical services were on scene and attempted life-saving measures after LaDuke was shot, according to state police. LaDuke was transported to University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital where he was pronounced dead by the Fayette County Coroner’s Office.

No officers or other members of the community were injured during the incident, state police said.

Horton has been placed on administrative leave in accordance with the Nicholasville Police Department’s policies and procedures, state police said. Horton is an eight-year veteran of the department, currently assigned to patrol, according to police.

LaDuke’s former legal guardian and aunt, Melissa Marks, released a statement through attorney Sam Aguiar and said the information from state police made it sound like investigators took the officer “at his word.”

“It gives no clarity, cites no body cam and provides no other objective evidence of what happened,” Marks said in a statement. “Instead, it basically says: ‘This is an eight year ‘veteran’ officer. If he says he saw an ‘immediate danger’ and that two guns were pointed at him and that he had to shoot, we’re good with that and we will take him at his word.”

Marks said in her statement that Nicholasville police had asked LaDuke to take both of his guns and place them outside the window before the shooting.

“The irony is that if Desman truly was holding two guns and approaching the window, he would’ve actually been doing exactly what the negotiator had been asking him to do,” Marks said in her statement.

“Also, this same negotiator who had been asking for Desman to place both guns outside the window was standing behind the sniper at the time the sniper shot Desman. The negotiator knew that he’d been giving this instruction to Desman. But KSP apparently decided not to mention this.”

Marks said she felt state police’s news release indicated a “lack of objectiveness within their investigation.”

“To our knowledge, ever since KSP developed a unit to investigate shootings of other agencies, not a single one of these investigations has resulted in any criminal action against officers for their unlawful use of deadly force,” she said in her statement. “Based upon what we’re seeing, it’s no wonder that this is the case.”

The investigation remains ongoing by Kentucky State Police Post 7.

State police have denied multiple open records requests made by the Herald-Leader in efforts to obtain bodycam footage, audio of 911 calls, incident reports and photographs of the scene.

“KSP has statewide jurisdiction and investigates officer-involved shootings throughout the commonwealth as requested by local law enforcement agencies,” state police said of their investigation. “KSP is committed to being transparent while ensuring the integrity of the investigation.

“To protect the integrity of ongoing investigations, it is KSP standard operating procedure to not release any further details until the investigation has been completed. Timelines to complete investigations vary based on the complexity of the case.”