Off-duty Kentucky deputy working security for car lot fatally shot

LOUISVILLE — An off-duty sheriff’s deputy working security at a car lot in Kentucky was fatally shot early Thursday while sitting in his unmarked vehicle, police said.

Someone came up to the vehicle’s window and shot the Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy around 2:30 a.m., according to Louisville Metro Police Department spokesperson Alicia Smiley told news outlets.

The deputy was able to call in the shooting and was taken to University of Louisville Hospital for treatment, Smiley said.

Deputy Brandon Shirley, 26, was pronounced dead at the hospital after emergency surgery, Jefferson County Sheriff John Aubrey said at a news conference.

An off-duty Jefferson County Sheriff's deputy died after being shot this morning in Shively: https://t.co/QeHQgyz4ek pic.twitter.com/LIr422NEBr

— WDRB News (@WDRBNews) August 5, 2021

He said he asked Louisville Metro Police to investigate the “tragic, senseless” shooting of Shirley, who began working for the sheriff’s office in March 2019.

“He loved being a deputy sheriff and he was a good one,” Aubrey said.

WATCH: The body of fallen Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Deputy Brandon Shirley received a police escort to a funeral home in PRP. Shirley was killed in an ambush while working an off-duty security job Thursday. LOCAL REACTION: https://t.co/gdbkBUi9Em pic.twitter.com/AbUJMeuChZ

— WHAS11 News (@WHAS11) August 5, 2021

Louisville Metro Police Chief Erika Shields said she was limited in the details she could release due to the ongoing investigation, but authorities don’t think it was a random shooting.

“We can say with a feeling of confidence that he was targeted and that he was ambushed,” she said. “We will make an arrest.”