(BEDFORD) – The trial of a Mitchell woman accused of pointing a loaded firearm at Lawrence County Police deputies is taking place in Lawrence County Superior Court I with Judge John Plummer III presiding.
Anita Keller is facing charges of criminal recklessness, criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, and two counts of pointing a deadly weapon at a police officer.
Keller was shot after she refused to drop her weapon and approached officers with a loaded gun on December 24, 2017. A warrant was issued for her arrest on May 3, 2018.
The incident:
At approximately 1:49 a.m. Sunday, December 24, 2017, Lawrence County Central Dispatch received a 911 call from a home at 559 Old Buddha Road. The caller told dispatchers that her daughter, Anita Keller, left the house to go outside. When the caller noticed her daughter had not returned, she searched for her daughter without success and heard a gunshot. She returned to the house and called 911.
The caller told the dispatcher she feared her daughter had shot herself.
Three officers from the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene along with an AMR ambulance crew, who was directed to stage nearby for safety reasons.
Based on the report to the dispatcher, the officers anticipated they were searching for an individual with a possible self-inflicted gunshot wound. During a search behind the residence, officers heard movement in a field and located Keller on the ground and armed with a handgun.
Officers immediately found cover and ordered Keller to drop the weapon and surrender to the officers. She refused. Officers ordered Keller to drop her weapon several times. The encounter exceeded nine minutes.
Keller repeatedly refused to drop the weapon, threatened to shoot officers and bystanders, and pointed the gun at officers.
Keller then left her original position and approached the officers while pointing the gun.
When Keller approached closely enough that officers’ cover was ineffective, they ordered her to drop her gun. She refused.
Officers fired at Keller and she fell to the ground.
Officers provided immediate assistance and summoned the ambulance crew from the staging area to the scene of the shooting.
A small semi-automatic handgun was found beside Keller. Another weapon was found in the vicinity of Keller’s position.
Keller was transported by air ambulance to a Louisville hospital where she was treated for non-life threatening injuries.
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