Teenager arrested in fatal shooting in Edmonson County

Police arrested a teenager early Sunday on suspicion of shooting and killing an elderly Edmonson County man in his home.

Damien Worrell, 18, address unknown, was arrested by Kentucky State Police on charges of murder and first-degree robbery in connection with the death of 83-year-old Ernest Cline, who was found dead in a bed in his residence on The Bridge Road in Edmonson County, KSP said.

According to an arrest citation, KSP troopers arrived at Cline’s residence after being notified of the shooting and found an empty handgun lying on a couch on the opposite side of the room from the bed where Cline was found with multiple gunshot wounds.

Investigators found six spent shell casings and two bullets in the area around the body. No weapons were found within Cline’s reach.

KSP Detective Allen Shirley wrote in an arrest citation that he learned Worrell had gone to a nearby residence and told people there that someone had tried to kill him.

Police then found Worrell and took him to KSP Post 3 headquarters in Bowling Green, where he agreed to speak to detectives.

Worrell told detectives he had been staying with Cline and was working for him.

“Worrell first claimed that he shot Cline in self defense after Cline had attacked him with a knife,” Shirley said in the arrest citation.

When detectives told Worrell they found no knife near Cline’s body, Worrell claimed that “an unknown man, whose body was completely covered, entered the house, grabbed the gun which was next to Worrell on the couch and shot Cline for unknown reasons before making a shushing motion with his finger to his mouth to Worrell and leaving the residence,” records show.

KSP confronted Worrell with a lack of evidence to support this account, leading Worrell to tell police that a woman he knew only by her first name had also been staying with Cline and claimed that Cline had sexually assaulted her, Worrell’s arrest citation said.

Worrell claimed to have found evidence to substantiate those allegations.

“Worrell claims that he remembers getting the gun out of a bag and that he then blacked out,” the arrest citation said. “Worrell claims that he does not remember shooting Cline.”

Police spoke with some of Cline’s relatives, who reported that a woman had been staying with him but that she left the house in the days prior to the shooting.

“The family members also advised that they did not know Worrell and had never seen him before,” the arrest citation said. “Family members stated the victim cannot walk or move around without the assistance of two canes or a walker.”

Worrell is being held in Hart County Jail, and no bond had been set as of Monday morning.

He is due to appear Tuesday in Edmonson District Court for arraignment.