Man who shot girlfriend now faces meth charges

Deputies serving a first-degree assault warrant on a man who allegedly shot his girlfriend have now charged him with trafficking in methamphetamine as well.

According to the citation, Deputy Seth Whitaker responded to a call that Dustin Shell was outside a home waiting for his girlfriend to come out and was in possession of a gun. Whitaker located the vehicle on KY 931 North at Sandlick, knocked on the door and asked to search the house for Shell.

Whitaker wrote that he found Shell hiding in a closet, and arrested him on three warrants, then called for assistance in searching the closet and bed. Whitesburg Police Patrolman Mike Garner and Constable Terry Perkins arrived and assisted.

In the process, Sheriff Mickey Stines said officers found 3.2 grams of methamphetamine packaged in small plastic bags numbered in permanent marker, six doses of Suboxone, plastic bags and rubber bands.

There was an active emergency protective order against Shell at the time stemming from a shooting a week earlier. One of the warrants served was for first-degree assault, domestic violence, which allegedly occurred January 3 in a trailer Shell shared with Rebecca D. Sexton at Wright’s Trailer Court in Neon.

Sexton swore in the warrant that she attempted to escape from a physical altercation with Shell by running into the bathroom of the trailer they rented. She said Shell fired a 9mm bullet through the door, striking her in the back. The bullet passed through her side, and entered her hand, the warrant says.