NEED TO KNOW
- A man shot a police officer outside Kentucky’s Blue Grass Airport before driving 15 miles to a local church where he shot four others
- Two women, mother Beverly Gumm and daughter Christina Combs, were killed in the shooting
- The sister and daughter of the victims said the gunman was looking for her other sister and muttered that “someone is gonna have to die then” after being told she wasn’t there
The gunman who opened fire outside Kentucky’s Blue Grass Airport before fleeing to a local church and shooting four people there has been identified, according to a new local report.
The Lexington Herald-Leader, WLKY and Lex 18 report that the shooter has been identified by authorities as Guy House.
The outlets reported that two people were killed in the shootings: mother and daughter Christina Combs, 34, and Beverly Gumm, 72. The victims were connected to the shooter — Combs is the sister of the mother of House’s children, and Gumm is their mother. Two other men were also shot and injured, according to NBC News and CNN.
The outlet reported that the shooting began near the Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky., shortly after 11:30 a.m. local time. House’s license plate activated an alert and an officer pulled him over outside the airport, leading to the gunman shooting and injuring the officer. House then “fled” the scene, police told NBC, and drove roughly 15 miles across town to the Richmond Road Baptist Church, where investigators said they believed the shooter had a direct relationship with others in attendance.
The Herald-Leader reported that House entered the church and demanded to see the mother of his three children. But he was told by one of Gumm’s other daughters, Star Rutherford, that she wasn’t there. Rutherford told the Herald-Leader that House then said: “Well, someone is gonna have to die then.”
House then shot Gumm, 72, who tried to duck out of the way of the shots, Rutherford told the newspaper. She said House then went outside the church and shot and killed Combs, according to the outlet.
Of the men who were shot but survived, one is in critical condition and the other was in stable. The officer initially shot outside the Blue Grass Airport is also in stable condition, according to the outlets.
House was shot and killed by police who responded to the scene at the Richmond Road Baptist Church, according to the Herald-Leader, CNN, and NBC News.
PEOPLE has reached out to the Lexington Police Department for more information about the investigation.
On Facebook, Rutherford confirmed her mother Beverly and her sister Christina’s deaths and shared fundraiser posts she started for both of their families.
“I appreciate the prayers and thoughts,” Rutherford wrote on Facebook, as messages of support came pouring in Sunday night.
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Local and state leaders also shared their condolences on social media, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who asked others on social media to “please pray for everyone affected by these senseless acts of violence.”
Others condemned the shootings and thanked police.
“Today, violence invaded the Lord’s House. The attack on law enforcement and people of faith in Lexington shocked the entire Commonwealth,” Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said.
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