SOMERSET, Ky. — Clinton Inabnitt was a regular at the convenience store in the center of this small town, known for complaining that the police were conspiring against him and telling nonsensical stories while he fixed his breakfast. For months, he'd been talking to Somerset's top defense attorney, describing his problems and asking for help.
On Friday, Inabnitt waited for Mark Stanziano to arrive at the downtown law office he shared with his wife, and without a word, he shot him at least four times, killing the attorney in front of several witnesses and at least one law enforcement officer, according to police and witness accounts.
"I said, 'Why did you do this?" said Keri Purkerson, a cashier at Fast Chek who called 911 shortly after the shooting. "He didn't say anything."
Stanziano and Inabnitt were both her customers, Purkerson said. On Friday morning, she said she heard the gunshots — something she'd never experienced in this town off the banks of Lake Cumberland — and ran outside to find Stanziano in a pool of blood, with Inabnitt standing over him holding a gun.
Police say Pulaski County Sheriff's Detective John Hutchinson witnessed the shooting, and he ran over from the courthouse across the street to arrest Inabnitt, 40. He is charged with murder.
Darrell Goff was mowing the lawn outside the courthouse, and he said he didn't hear any argument between Stanziano and Inabnitt.
"When he got done shooting, he just walked over there and laid the gun on the sidewalk and laid down on his belly," Goff said.
Inabnitt's apartment is across the street from Stanziano's office, and police said the two were well acquainted. Fast Chek clerks said Stanziano sometimes paid for Inabnitt at the store when he'd come in for his own Diet Pepsi and breakfast bar.
