ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) -- Police said the man wanted for gunning down three people in a deadly shooting outside the Hardin County courthouse early Monday is in the hospital after shooting himself in the head following a police chase. 

During a media briefing Monday afternoon, Elizabethtown Police Chief Jeremy Thompson said police used Flock cameras to track Christopher Elder to western Kentucky after the early morning shooting outside the courthouse in the 100 block of Dixie Avenue.  

Around 9 a.m., just before Elder was scheduled to appear for a hearing involving an emergency protective order, Thompson said Elder opened fire outside the courthouse. He was dating one of the victims, 37-year-old Erica Riley of Elizabethtown, who died at the scene. 

Riley's mother, 71-year-old Janet Riley, of Hardinsburg, was hospitalized after the shooting but died from her injuries. A man who was also shot remains hospitalized in stable condition, according to Elizabethtown public information officer Chris Denham. 

According to a post on the Hopkinsville Police Department Facebook page, several police agencies were involved in tracking Elder down, including the Hopkinsville Police Department, Christian County Sheriff's Office, Muhlenberg County Sheriff's Office, and Kentucky State Police. 

The post states that Elder "pointed a rifle at pursuing officers multiple times." He then "fled into a church parking lot pointing the rifle at himself and at officers."

Christian County Sheriffs Office and Hopkinsville police negotiators spoke with Elder for about 90 minutes before he attempted to take his own life by shooting himself in the head, according to the Facebook post. 

Elder was flown to Vanderbilt Hospital in Tennessee. Denham said Elder is in critical condition, but could provide no additional information. 

Thompson said two juveniles connected to the case were present when the victims were shot, but they were not harmed. 

Police said Riley was at the courthouse with her parents and two children for a scheduled hearing on an emergency protective order against Elder she filed on Aug. 8 in Hardin County Family Court. 

Family members said the young mother "feared for her life."

According to court documents, Riley filed for an EPO against Elder on Aug. 8. In it, she described an incident from July in which Elder "was downgrading and talking nasty to" her teenaged daughter. She says she defended her daughter, and she and Elder "got into a screaming match." Riley reported that when she "yelled at him that he's a drunk a***," Elder hit her "twice in the left jaw."

She then describes Elder tripping and falling. That's when she "jumped on top of his back and started hitting him in the head." She also said she "did not realize that I had my electronic cigarette in my hand which did result in hurting his right hand and cutting his head." Once Elder got Riley "off his back," the two were "wrestling on the ground" with Elder "repeatedly" hitting Riley on the sides of her head "until he just finally stopped." 

Riley said in the EPO that her children were in their bedroom during this altercation. She also wrote that Elder had threatened and abused her with "mental and physical violence" for the past year and-a-half.

Criminal records show Elder has a history of domestic violence cases. Records show a woman in Breckenridge County took out an EPO against Elder in 2008. Two years before that, he was convicted of Fourth Degree assault, a domestic violence charge with minor injury out of Louisville.

Witnesses at the scene on Monday told WDRB they saw Elder circling the parking lot before hearing multiple gunshots.

"We was walking from the back to the front and we heard gunshots. Like from seven, to 10 to maybe 12 gunshots, and so we came through here and when we got out here, we seen the body laying, we seen another body laying ..." Rebecca Duvall said. "He was circling the parking lot and, I guess ... waiting for the people to get here and when they got here, he got out of his car, shot them and got back in his car and left."

Police said the man wanted for gunning down three people in a deadly shooting outside the Hardin County courthouse early Monday is in the hospital after shooting himself in the head following a police chase.

Government leaders expressed their condolences to the victims in two written statements. The following is a statement from Sen. Matt Deneen, R-Elizabethtown:

"I extend my deepest prayers to the surviving family members of the victims involved in the tragic shooting this morning at the Hardin County Justice Center. This senseless act was perpetrated by a single individual, but through collaboration with multiple law enforcement agencies, he was ultimately apprehended. I sincerely thank our law enforcement professionals for their responsiveness and dedication to handling this emerging situation."

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear had this to say:

"Our thoughts are with Elizabethtown in the wake of an act of violence that took two lives and has left one hospitalized. Join Britainy and me in lifting the entire Hardin County community in prayer and giving thanks to our brave first responders."

Kentucky State Police Post 2 is leading the investigation. 

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