Man who killed officers, K-9 commits suicide

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

PIKEVILLE — The Allen man charged with killing three officers and K-9 officer Drago on June 30, 2022, in Floyd County committed suicide in the Pike County Detention Center Monday night, according to officials.

Floyd County Commonwealths Attorney Brent Turner said initial findings of the ongoing preliminary investigation is that Lance Storz, 49, hung himself in a bathroom at the facility.

“It happened sometime during the overnight hours,” County Attorney Keith Bartley said Tuesday. “He’s a c------ s--- coward, and he didn’t want to face up to what he’d done.”

Storz was charged in a 20-count indictment on July 11, 2022. The indictment charged Storz with three counts of murder for the intentional killing of Floyd County Deputy William Petry, and Prestonsburg police officers Ralph Frasure and Jake Chaffins; two counts of first-degree assault for shooting Floyd County Deputy Darrin Lawson and DES Director Joe Reynolds; six counts of criminal attempt to commit murder for shooting at Prestonsburg police officer Keith Duncan, Floyd County deputies Darrin Lawson, Chris Hall and Dusty Newsome, Kentucky State Police Billy Ball, and Constable Gary Wolfe, with the intent to cause their death; seven counts of first-degree wanton endangerment for shooting into a vehicle where Joe Reynolds was an occupant, for shooting in the direction of Prestonsburg police officer Keagan Williams, for shooting into the vehicle in which Prestonsburg police officer Dennis Hutchinson was an occupant, for shooting in the direction of Kentucky State Police officer Bailey Combs, for shooting in the direction of Kentucky State Police officer Michael McKinney, for shooting in the direction of Floyd County Deputy Adam Dixon, and for shooting in the direction of Constable Gary Nelson; first-degree assault on a service animal when he intentionally killed Floyd County K-9 officer Drago; and fourth-degree assault, domestic violence, when he intentionally caused physical injury to Christina Storz when he struck her.

Pikeville Police Department, Kentucky State Police and the Pikeville Detention Center are all involved in the death investigation, Barley said.

A pretrial conference in the murder case had been scheduled for March 23, according to Turner.