An Alabama sheriff's department is in mourning after a deputy shot to death his girlfriend, who was a dispatcher on the force, and then fatally shot himself, authorities said.
An Alabama sheriff's department is reeling after one of its K-9 officers shot to death his girlfriend, who was a dispatcher on the force, and then turned the gun on himself, authorities said.
The Cullman County Sheriff's Office has been shaken to its "very core" after Deputy Kenneth Booth, 28, pulled a gun during an argument with girlfriend Lexi White, 23 and shot her to death in a common area of a resort on Alabama's Gulf Coast, the department said.
Booth then shot himself, authorities said. Their bodies were found by Orange Police Department officers who responded to calls of shots fired at 2:45 a.m. Thursday inside the vacation complex, police said.
White had been with the sheriff's department since she was 16, Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry said in a statement.
“Our family here at the Sheriff’s Office is devastated. We are all in shock and saddened to our very core,” Gentry said. “Our hearts go out to the families of all those involved. I would ask that everyone join me in praying for the families, and for everyone here at the Sheriff’s Office.”
White was a dispatch shift supervisor who had worked with the department's youth program since she was a teen.
“She was a charter member in our Youth Leadership Academy, and was involved in every one after that, either as a participant, or coach,” the sheriff said. “There are not enough words to express what she and her family mean to me. I am literally heartbroken. I feel like Lexi is one of my own kids.”
An investigation is ongoing.
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