The Bardstown, Kentucky police department, which had been mourning the ambush killing of one of its officers, received threats that more men will be targeted, prompting an FBI investigation, the police chief said Tuesday, as reported by the Associated Press. The department said that they received a written threat last week that "there are more to come." This threat comes a month after Bardstown Officer Jason Ellis was killed while he was headed home from work, Chief Rick McCubbin said.
"We don't even know if any of the the threats are credible, but obviously we're going to treat them as if they are credible," McCubbin said. Bardstown is about 40 miles southeast of Louisville with a population of 12,000.
Officials continue to respond to calls in teams of at least two, the AP reported, with their routines not changed despite the increased threats,
"Our patrol officers are still out covering beats and making those runs," he said. "We are not going to do our job in fear. We're not going to retreat in any way."
Ellis, who his colleagues described as one of the top officers within the department, was hit with multiple shotgun blasts on May 25 after he got out of his cruiser to pick up tree limbs on a highway exit ramp in Nelson County. Authorities suspect they think someone purposely placed the limbs on the ramp in order to get him to stop. McCubbin said he believes Ellis was targeted but added that the new written threat did not single out anyone in particular. This note has since been turned over to Kentucky State Police and the FBI.
Meanwhile, state police are still reviewing leads and interviewing people in the search for Ellis' killer
Reward money leading to the killer's arrest and conviction has surpassed $150,000, with donations from businesspeople, local governments, residents and others, the AP reported.
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