What started as a domestic disturbance call on a quiet Elizabethtown street turned into a scene of violence Monday night, after Hardin County deputies say a woman was shot and a man was later found dead inside the home in what investigators are calling an apparent attempted murder-suicide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a study of Kentucky Violent Death Reporting System suicides between 2005 and 2015 identified "intimate partner problems" as a precipitating circumstance in 26% of cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that nationally "the suicide rate was highest among AI/AN and White males, whereas the homicide rate was highest among Black males," underscoring demographic differences in violent-death patterns.
Deputies were dispatched to a residence in the 75 block of Battle Drive after reports of an active domestic disturbance. As they arrived, investigators say they heard a single gunshot from inside the home. Moments later, a woman emerged with a gunshot wound to the chest. She was taken to a local hospital and, according to officials, was later released.
Inside the residence, deputies found a man who appeared to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No additional details about those involved had been released as of the latest update.
According to WDRB, the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office said deputies heard the single shot as they reached the scene, and the agency described the incident as an apparent attempted murder-suicide. The woman was treated and released from a local hospital, and the man found inside the home appeared to have died from a self-inflicted wound. The Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Unit is handling the case.
Investigation under way
The Hardin County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation and maintains contact and tip information on its website. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the sheriff’s office at (270) 765-5133.
The Hardin County Coroner’s Office oversees death investigations in the county and will determine the official cause and manner of the man’s death. The coroner’s office can be reached at 270-737-8834.
Where to get help
Statewide survivor resources and local shelter contacts, including Elizabethtown-area SpringHaven, are listed on the Kentucky Secretary of State’s survivor resources page. That page also points to the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). According to the Kentucky Justice & Public Safety Cabinet's 2023 Domestic Violence Data Report, "7,744 arrests were made for incidents involving domestic or dating violence and abuse." The Kentucky Justice & Public Safety Cabinet's 2023 Domestic Violence Data Report also notes that "17,036 Emergency Protective Orders were served."
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 911.
