On the Beat in the Bluegrass

A police officer shot a man multiple times after he refused to put a rifle down in a north Lexington house early Monday, authorities said.

Two Lexington police officers arrived at 1788 Arbor Station Way about 4 a.m. in response to multiple reports of a domestic violence situation. When officers Matthew Jordan and J. Michael Smith arrived, they found Warren Douglas Rayburn, 44, inside the house holding a Bushmaster XM15 assault rifle, police said.

Rayburn, who lives at the home on Arbor Station Way, would not obey the officers’ orders to put the weapon down. Police would not say whether the gun was loaded.

Police have released few details about what led to the shooting, including the domestic violence call the officers were responding to. But the two officers called for help at 4:09 a.m., just minutes after they arrived at the house about the same time in separate cars.

Jordan and Smith were standing in close quarters on the porch with the front door open when Jordan shot Rayburn multiple times, said Officer Ann Gutierrez, Lexington police spokeswoman.

The shooting happened before other officers, en route to help, arrived.

“It all happened very, very quickly,” Gutierrez said.

Rayburn was taken to University of Kentucky Hospital, where he was in surgery Monday morning. Hospital officials said he was in critical condition Monday evening.

Police interviewed witnesses, including the woman who was involved in the initial domestic dispute on Monday. But Gutierrez declined to discuss statements about what happened at the house, including whether Rayburn threatened police or pointed the gun at officers.

The single-family home is in a subdivision off Georgetown Road, outside West New Circle Road. Police blocked a section of the subdivision at Arbor Station Way and Lost Trail Lane as officers investigated much of the day on Monday.

Houses in the neighborhood have street-facing garages in front that account for most of the facade, with smaller porches.

Patsy Turner lives on Arbor Station near Rayburn’s house. She was awakened by loud noises outside about 4 a.m. and found an officer putting up crime tape and a swarm of police cars when she went outside to see what was happening.

“I thought someone was banging on my house or on the door,” Turner said.

Turns out, the noise she heard was gunshots.

It was a busy scene, Turner said, for what usually is a quiet neighborhood. Officers were still pacing the scene Monday evening as people were arriving home from work.

“It was quite a shock,” she said.

Turner said she often saw Rayburn and the woman coming and going. Gutierrez said she thinks the woman lived at the house, but did not know her relationship to Rayburn.

No action has been taken against either officer, but typically, officers are placed on paid administrative leave during a shooting investigation, Gutierrez said.

According to Urban County Government records, Jordan and Smith have been with the department since February 2006.