WHITESBURG, Ky. – A judge in a rural Kentucky county was shot dead in the local courthouse on Thursday, Governor Andy Beshear announced.

A suspect in the shooting was taken into custody, Kentucky State Police said.

Authorities did not immediately identify the shooting victim or the suspect.

The district judge was shot in his office, the governor said in a social media post.

“There is far too much violence in this world and I pray there is a path to a better future,” Beshear said.

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said his office will work with a prosecutor in the region as a special prosecutor in the case.

“We will conduct a full investigation and seek justice,” Coleman said on social media.

The shooting occurred at the Letcher County Courthouse in Whitesburg, an Appalachian town in southeastern Kentucky, 235 kilometers southeast of Lexington, Kentucky.

The shooting is being investigated by Kentucky State Police. Trooper Matt Gayheart called it an isolated incident and said there was no threat to the public. However, he did not provide any details about the shooting.

Several schools in the area were briefly locked down, including Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College and Letcher County Schools, according to media reports.