Fallen trooper among 3 officers killed in action from the same training class

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB+WAVE/Gray News) — A Kentucky father said he got chills when he learned Kentucky State Police Trooper Hayden Phillips was shot and killed Monday.

Phillips has a connection to two other officers killed in the line of duty. They all graduated from the same Department of Criminal Justice Training class at Eastern Kentucky University in December 2019.

“It’s weird for sure; my first thought the other day was, ‘Man, is that class cursed,’” Brian Shirley said.

Brian’s son, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputy Brandon Shirley, Kentucky State Police Trooper Hayden Phillips and Scott County Deputy Caleb Conley were among 33 graduates from DOJCT class 506.

All three were killed in action.

Brandon Shirley was ambushed in August 2021 while working private security in Louisville at a car lot off Rockford Lane. Conley was shot and killed while conducting a traffic stop on southbound Interstate 75 in Georgetown.

Conley’s murder is similar to what happened to Phillips, who died Monday in Warren County and was also shot during a traffic stop.

Shirley said the coincidence gave him chills.

“It definitely hits home every time I hear an officer has gone down,” he said.

He said when an officer dies, the loved ones left behind become part of a fraternity where no one wants membership, connected by grief.

“Heartache and sorrow, it’s just never going to shut off for them,” Shirley said. “My heart has a giant hole in it, and no matter what I pour into it, I’m never, ever going to fill it up.”

Shirley went to Conley’s funeral in 2023 and said he will connect with Phillips’ family as well.

“Those kids lost their dad,” Shirley said. “She lost her husband.”

They are new members in the club no one wants to join: law enforcement loved ones left behind.

“They say time heals all wounds,” Shirley said. “I don’t know if it gets better or you just get better at dealing with it.”

Police said Emonnie Branch, 51, of Portland, Tennessee, allegedly shot Phillips and fled, triggering a statewide manhunt.

Branch was later arrested in Louisville and charged with murder of a first responder in Phillips’ death. During his arraignment in Warren County Tuesday morning, a judge denied Branch bail.

According to court records from the Tennessee Department of Correction, Branch had at least one active warrant out for his arrest when Phillips stopped him. It was for a probation violation in a fraud case. He pleaded guilty to fraud and impersonation and was sentenced to five years’ probation in July of last year.