Manhunt Underway For Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks After Kentucky State Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder Gunned Down After Traffic Stop (Update: Police Kill Suspect After Stand Off)

Once again we ask the question, Do Police Lives Matter?

A manhunt has been launched after the shooting death of 31 year old Kentucky State Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder. The incident occurred Sunday night, 9/13, at approximately 10:20 pm CT after Trooper Ponder pulled over a vehicle on Interstate 24. The driver fled from the traffic stop where the pursuit ensued with the suspect stopping abruptly around the 49 mile marker when the suspect jammed on his breaks. The suspect then got out of his vehicle and fired several shots into the police cruiser. The suspect then fled on foot and is still at large.  Trooper Ponder was taken to a hospital in Princeton, Kentucky, where he later died of his injuries.

Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder, 31, was killed after a driver fled from a traffic stop on Interstate 24 at 10:20 p.m. local time (11:20 p.m. ET).

“A pursuit ensued with the suspect stopping abruptly around the 49 mile marker, causing the front of Trooper Ponder’s police cruiser to make contact with the rear of the suspect vehicle,” Trooper First Class Jay Thomas said in a statement.

He added: “At this time, the driver of the suspect vehicle fired several shots into the police cruiser striking the hood, windshield and Trooper Ponder multiple times. The suspect fled the scene on foot.”

Rest in Peace Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder

UPDATE I: Shooting suspect identified the suspect as Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks.

The shooting suspect who murdered Kentucky state trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder has been identified as 25 year old  Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks. Police said he should be considered armed and dangerous.

The suspect has been identified as Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks, 25, of Missouri. He was described as a black male who is about 5-foot-5 inches and 140 pounds.

Police say he ran off after shooting Ponder. A search was under way Monday morning in Lyon County, Ky.

Johnson-Shanks’ hometown couldn’t immediately be verified by police, but online records show him living in the Florissant area. He was arrested twice in 2014 in the St. Louis area, once for destruction of property and once for interfering with a police officer.

A social media site that appears to be Johnson-Shanks’ features a photo collage of Martin Luther King, Malcom X and Michael Brown. He reposted photos of memorial sites for Michael Brown and others killed by police, asking “Why is it taking so long to arrest those officers.”

UPDATE II: Cops shoot and kill alleged gunman who murdered rookie Kentucky state trooper.

A man suspected of killing a Kentucky trooper was shot and killed by state police early Monday morning, police confirmed to FoxNews.com.

Authorities said 25-year-old Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks, of Missouri, was located in a remote rural area near I-24 around 7 a.m., following an all-night manhunt. Johnson-Shanks was armed with a handgun and did not comply with several commands to drop his weapon, according to Sgt. Mike Webb.

“That gave the trooper closest to him no choice but to fire his agency-issued weapon, striking him multiple times,” Webb said.