Officials say a defense attorney well known in his small, southern Kentucky town has been shot and killed outside of his law office.
Somerset police say Mark Stanziano, 57, was shot multiple times about 8 a.m. Friday morning outside his downtown office.
Police have arrested Clinton D. Inabnitt, 40, of Somerset. They say witnesses have told them the man had been in contact with Stanziano on Thursday evening and had previously threatened the attorney.
A police citation says Inabnitt told officers that he shot Stanziano because the attorney declined to help him with a problem and laughed at him.
Somerset is a town of 11,000 in Pulaski County in southern Kentucky.
In 2002, a former Pulaski County sheriff was killed in a plot around the time of a political rally. Stanziano represented the man charged with the murder.
A biography on Stanziano's law practice website says he had 30 years' experience in criminal cases.