Police: Man planning to murder family members had assault rifle, body armor

LA GRANGE, Ky. (WAVE) - A Louisville man is being held in the Oldham County Detention Center after he was stopped before carrying out a threat to commit mass murder.

Kenneth Wayne Gregory, 27, is charged with four counts of attempted murder.

Just after 7 p.m. May 20, Louisville Metro police were called to the 800 block of Moser Road about Gregory who had made threats to harm himself and others. By the time an LMPD officer arrived, Gregory had left but begun a Facetime chat with his father. The video showed he was wearing ballistic body armor and was loading ammo magazines, according to his arrest report.

LMPD said Gregory was sending text messages containing threats and confirming the Oldham County addresses of his intended victims. In a voicemail to his father, Gregory threatened to kill him, his wife and the entire family and challenged them to stop him.

Police pinged Gregory’s cell phone which showed he had left Jefferson County and was heading toward the Oldham County home of four other family members. Oldham County police found Gregory driving in the area and pulled his car over. He was detained on a mental inquest warrant from Jefferson County.

After detaining Gregory, officers found he had a holstered 9mm pistol on his hip with two extra magazines and two loaded AK-47 magazines. The report says there was a loaded AK-47 in the passenger seat and two pistol magazines in the cupholder. In the trunk, they found body armor and an empty rifle case with six loaded rifle magazines.

Oldham County police say during their investigation, it was learned that Gregory was planning to murder his stepsister and her family.

Gregory’s neighbors said he was nice in their limited interactions with him, and he never caused any problems and seemed like a normal guy.

“I introduced myself and said, ‘my name is Wilma Smith, welcome to the neighborhood,’” Wilma Smith said.

Gregory moved in near Smith about a month ago. She met both Gregory and his dad and said they were both very pleasant.

She knew something was up when police came by on Sunday, but she didn’t know the whole story until we told her.

She was surprised.

“I went to church yesterday with the police here. The police from another county and our police, and I was so upset at church, I prayed for this child,” Smith said. “He must’ve had something come over him. His daddy’s very nice too.”

Gregory was initially detained for having an active mental inquest warrant.

“That’s an order signed by a judge to have a person who they feel may do harm to themselves or harm to others brought in for evaluation,” said WAVE news security expert DShawn Johnson.

Johnson says those are usually requested by a concerned family member.

“It’s a tough call for a family because to go down there and sign those papers saying your loved one has some mental health issues, knowing the police will be coming to get them, is very, very had for a lot of families to do,” Johnson said.

Johnson, who is a former police officer, says MIWs are the most dangerous warrant that officers serve.

“That’s because this subject has already made threats to harm themselves and harm others, or is a harm to the base community. Anytime someone is having some mental health issues, it’s always a dangerous situation because it can go left real quick,” Johnson said.

Gregory is being held on a $100,000 cash bond and is scheduled to be arraigned in Oldham District Court this afternoon.

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