Man accused of killing 2 police officers and a deputy dies in Kentucky jail

By Michelle Watson and Steve Almasy, CNN

A man accused of killing two police officers and a deputy in Kentucky last June has died in jail, the Pikeville Police Department said Wednesday in a news release.

Lance Storz, 50, was found unresponsive shortly after 6:30 a.m. ET Tuesday at the Pike County Detention Center, police said.

Storz was taken to Pikeville Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, according to the release. He’s no longer listed in the Pike County Detention Center, according to online jail records.

The “initial information that we were given yesterday is that he was found in the bathroom,” Floyd County Commonwealth Attorney Brent Turner told CNN in a phone call Tuesday.

While an autopsy report is still in the works, Turner said, “it appeared” Storz had “harmed himself in some manner and was dead.”

His death is under investigation by state police, Pikeville Police and the coroner’s office, the release from Pikeville Police said. CNN has reached out to the Pike County Coroner’s office for more information on Storz’s autopsy.

Storz had a court appearance scheduled for March 23 that would have been his first since he was arraigned on his indictment, the prosecutor said.

After that hearing, Floyd County Sheriff John Hunt told reporters that deputies on June 30 were serving a warrant related to a domestic violence incident in the town of Allen when Storz opened fire with a high-powered rifle.

The Sheriff’s Office identified the officers killed as Floyd County Deputy William Petry and Prestonsburg Police Capt. Ralph Frasure. Officer and K-9 handler Jacob R. Chaffins was also killed as was his dog. Several other law enforcement officers were wounded.

“They encountered … pure hell when they arrived. They had no chance,” the sheriff said, adding later the deputies had not even made contact with the suspected shooter when the gunfire began.

The shooter seemed to have had a plan and “pretty much executed that plan almost to precision,” Hunt said. The sheriff said it took several hours to figure out where the gunman was firing from.

“(The suspect) was a sheer terrorist … he was just a terrorist on a mission,” the sheriff said.

The gunman also had “a lot” of ammunition and a body armor vest, Floyd County officials said at a later news conference.

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CNN’s Andi Babineau, Melissa Alonso and Sharif Paget contributed to this report.