Three people are dead and one is injured after a double murder-suicide in Southeastern Kentucky. The shooting rampage happened on Laurel Lakes Road in Bell County Tuesday morning.
Police said the man responsible, is former Knox County Judge Executive, Raymond Curtis Smith. Police said after Smith shot and killed two people and wounded another, he killed himself in a Flat Lick Cemetery near his father and his nephew’s graves.
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The biggest question police are asking is why were 50-year-old Michael Smith, his son Mychael-Dustin, and daughter Robin all shot at their home? Robin is the only one who survived, and her friends said she knew Raymond Curtis Smith, who is not related to the other Smith family.
While questions remain, one thing is certain. Friends and relatives in two communities are stunned by what transpired.
“It absolutely devastated me, absolutely broke my heart,” said Krystal Coffie who is friends with Robin. People close to the victims still can’t believe the terror that unfolded Tuesday morning.
“Why would somebody want to hurt somebody like Robin? She just didn’t deserve it,” said Coffie.
Coffie’s mother, Marsha Stewart, spent years watching Robin grow up and could not fathom why the violence would happen. “What could have possessed him to do something like this? I mean was it greed? was it payback?” asked Stewart.
It’s not clear what possessed Raymond Curtis Smith to commit such a horrific attack. However, people who worked with him when he was a public official said it all seems surreal. One woman who used to work for Raymond Curtis Smith said he was not the type of person who could kill.
Now after this tragedy, people’s thoughts shift to the young woman who is fighting for her life.
“Everybody knows Robin, everybody loves Robin,” said Coffie.
“She loved her family and I can only imagine when she wakes up … She’s going to find out about her brother and her dad, it’s going to hurt her bad,” said Stewart.
Friends say despite the difficulties Robin will pull through. They said Robin was an MMA fighter in highschool, and an old school video shows her spirit. In the video Robin said, “I go into every fight thinking you are going to win regardless…. my family backs me up on anything I do.”
Although she lost part of that family Tuesday, the community is behind her, hoping for the best.
“Just pray for her and her family,” said Stewart.
Robin was air lifted to the University Medical Center in Tennessee. As of Tuesday night, there was no word on her condition.
Raymond Curtis Smith was a controversial figure in Knox County who had several run-ins with the law, including bid rigging allegations while he was in office.
He spent two and a half years in prison after he pleaded guilty in Federal Court to mail fraud. Prosecutors said he altered documents to hide that he was hiring his relatives to do public works projects. He was convicted of mail fraud for mailing the altered documents to the state auditor’s office while it was investigating the county’s spending.
