911 call, police interview from Shively officer-involved shooting released

SHIVELY, KY (WAVE) - In January a Shively man called 911.

"Someone kicked in my door, came in and shot me," Kenneth Probus, 53, said. "I need an ambulance please."

He tells the operator, in 911 tapes obtained by WAVE 3 News, he is bleeding and on the floor. Someone had just shot him, and he fired back, he said.

"When they kicked the door in, and I opened fire on them, they shot me," Probus said.

"But you didn't see anything? You didn't see who it was, or anything?" the operator asked.

"No," Probus responded.

As it turned out, those two men who had kicked in Probus' door were plainclothes Shively police officers, who were there to serve a warrant.

"As soon as I saw the man with the gun, I saw the muzzle flash from his gun and I heard it and immediately my legs went numb," Wes Singleton, the officer who was shot, told investigators during a recorded interview with the Louisville Metro Police Department's Public Integrity Unit.

"I just remember squeezing the trigger as fast as I could," he said.

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Probus is now charged with trying to kill a police officer. He claims the shooting was self-defense and that he never heard the officers identify themselves as police. During the interview, Singleton stated he knew that he and the other officer he went into Probus' house with had yelled that they were police, because that is what they always do.

After the shots, Probus stayed on the phone with the 911 operator. You can hear him tell officers where his gun was.

"It's at the foot of the bed," he yelled out. "It's at the foot of the bed."

Meanwhile Singleton, who was outside of the home at that point, was losing blood fast.

"I remember telling them to tell my wife that I love her, and tell my kids that I love her, just because I felt like I was about to go, and I was about to pass out. And I was afraid that if I passed out, I wouldn't wake up," Singleton said.

Probus' attorney Leland Hulbert has previously told WAVE 3 News that his client acted in self-defense, saying that Probus, at one point in his life, was trained as a police officer and worked as an EMT and a firefighter. Hulbert also said Probus was a Marine who served two tours overseas.

A woman named Loretta Harris, 51, who was also inside the home that day, was arrested on an outstanding warrant for trafficking methamphetamine.

In an interview with police, Harris admitted she had "parties" involving drug use inside the home.

"What are they going to find?" asked the officer.

"Maybe a little bit of ice?" replied Harris.

Harris said Probus was often working second shift and did not partake in the drug use inside the home.

"Kenny doesn't do any drugs, he doesn't do any drugs at all," Harris said to police.

When police entered his room, they said Probus shot Singelton in the legs. Probus' lawyer says the officer was in plain clothes and Probus shot him in self-defense.

In multiple interviews, officers are adamant, Singleton identified himself.

"The whole time through the house we're yelling police search warrant," said an officer involved in the operation.

"And I heard detective singleton yell police search warrant and kick open the door," said another officer to LMPD's Public Integrity Unit.

The next moments of gunfire happen quickly, but as Singleton was hit...there is one thing he tells officer's he remembers.

"My brothers, my police officer brothers and they we're shielding me," Singleton said emotionally.

Probus was shot in the stomach during the exchange.

Harris was released on home incarceration back in January.

"Kenny was shot. And it's my fault," Harris reveals in the interview.

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