WOUND LISTED AS SERIOUS; POLICE SAY SHE FIRED FIRST

KITE - A woman suspected of drug trafficking was seriously wounded
Monday night during a drug raid in rural Knott County, Kentucky State
Police said.

The woman, Angela King, 34, of Kite, was shot once in the head by
Perry County Deputy Sheriff John Couch, a member of the
Appalachia-HIDTA Task Force based in London, said Trooper Tim Kilburn
of the Hazard post.

King was listed in serious condition yesterday in the intensive-care
unit at Cabell-Huntington Hospital in West Virginia, said Annette
Layne of Kite, King's sister.

Kilburn said King opened fire on Couch and Trooper Randy Combs when
they entered King's home on Arnold Fork at 11 p.m. to serve a search
warrant.

Couch returned fire twice, striking King once in the head, Kilburn
said. Combs did not fire, Kilburn said.

Perry County Sheriff Pat Wooton placed Couch, 38, on paid
administrative leave until an investigation of the shooting is completed.

Wooton said Couch has been a law enforcement officer for nine years
and joined the-HIDTA task force in October.

Meanwhile, police arrested King's husband, Dennis Ray King, 49, and
charged him with trafficking in marijuana. Kilburn said officers found
20 to 25 pounds of processed marijuana, several firearms and more than
$13,000 in cash in the house.

Layne, one of several of Angela King's relatives in the Huntington
hospital's waiting room, said her sister underwent surgery for several
hours yesterday morning.

Layne said relatives question whether Angela King fired the first shot
when 10 law-enforcement officers showed up at her house.

"To me, that's not like her, to make a bad situation worse," Layne
said.

"I know she would not have shot unless she felt like her life was
threatened."

Layne said the Kings' 14-year-old son claims he heard only two shots
during the altercation. She said the boy "was put to the ground with a
foot on his shoulder" during the incident.