The Kentucky State Police Post 4 in Elizabethtown continues the investigation into an officer-involved shooting that occurred on October 19, 2024, around 5:09 a.m. EDT.
Preliminary findings from the investigation indicate that the Elizabethtown Police Department received multiple reports about a male individual inside Baptist Health Hardin Hospital possessing a firearm and having made numerous threats to hospital staff and patients. Information was also received that he had fired his weapon inside the hospital before their arrival.
When officers arrived, they encountered several individuals running out of the hospital. Officers then entered Baptist Health Hardin and encountered the armed individual in a hallway, later identified as 39 year-old George Lee Jr., of Radcliff. Lee turned toward officers with the firearm and it was at that time Elizabethtown Police Department Officer Lieutenant Alex Ruiz fired his agency-issued weapon one time, striking Lee.
Lee was stabilized at the scene and was then transported to the University of Louisville Hospital, where he remains in critical yet stable condition.
In accordance with Elizabethtown Police Department standard operating procedures, Lt. Ruiz, a 10-year veteran of the Elizabethtown Police Department, was placed on paid administrative leave.
These preliminary findings are subject to change as Kentucky State Police investigators continue this ongoing investigation.
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