According to NBC News, a pastor who also owned a pawn shop in Burnside, Ky., allegedly shot and killed three people in his store, then attended the funerals of two of them, even going so far as to pay personal respects to the family. Kenneth A. Keith, 48, who also pastors of Main Street Baptist Church in Burnside, was charged Wednesday in connection to the triple homicide of Michael and Angela Hockensmith, two of Keith’s business partners, and Daniel Smith, a customer, on September 20.
Families of the slain victims say the sympathy shown by Keith at the funeral was like “a punch in the gut” and “made them sick,” saying Keith was a longtime friend of the Hockensmith family.
Apparently the Hockensmiths and the customer were part of a gold bullion deal gone bad and were shot and killed along with Smith, who was purchasing the gold. NBC News said the police received a call from the Hockensmith’s 9-year-old son, who was inside the store during the shooting along with his 14-month-old sister. Neither child was hurt. Authorities called the slayings “an act of cold blooded violence.” Keith is being held in the Pulaski County jail.
