In a tragic turn of events stemming from a domestic issue, Sheila Nash, a 37-year-old White female, was fatally shot in her Bowling Green, Kentucky, apartment on the night of June 9, 2015. Residing in the Eastern Heights Duplex Community, Nash had sought legal protection from her ex-boyfriend, 59-year-old Gary Thompson, just a day before her death.
An emergency protective order had been issued by a judge on Monday, but it had not yet been served to Thompson at the time of the incident.
On that Tuesday night, Thompson entered Nash's home and shot her in the presence of one of her relatives. After fleeing the scene, a witness saw a man leaving the area shortly after the shooting. Law enforcement later located Thompson in a mobile home on Loop Drive in the early hours of the following morning. When confronted by Kentucky State Police troopers and Warren County sheriff's deputies, Thompson brandished a firearm. A trooper fired two rounds at him, both of which missed. Thompson then turned the gun on himself, firing a single round that struck him in the jaw.
Thompson survived the self-inflicted gunshot wound and was transported to a medical center in Nashville for treatment of the non-life-threatening injury. Upon his release from the hospital, he was taken into custody and faced a charge of murder-domestic violence. This was not Thompson's first encounter with the law, as he had a history of arrests for various offenses, and other women had previously sought protective orders against him. In January 2019, Gary Thompson pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and being a first-degree persistent felony offender. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after serving a minimum of 20 years.
