911 call details deadly Pulaski County shooting: ‘I didn’t have a choice’

PULASKI COUNTY, Ky. (FOX 56) — A 911 call from the night of a fatal shooting near Burnside reveals why the man accused allegedly said he pulled the trigger.

The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office said that deputies were called at 1:28 a.m. on July 6 regarding a shooting at a home on Garland Road. According to deputies, they found 35-year-old Thomas Dick’s body inside the camper. He’d been shot in the neck, according to dispatch audio.

He was from Aurora, Indiana.

Authorities arrested Anthony Emerson, 35, and charged him with murder. He’s being held on a $1 million bond in the Pulaski County Detention Center.

Emerson is reportedly from Batavia, Ohio, and said they were in town on vacation. They’d had “a few beers” earlier that day.

FOX 56 obtained the 911 call that led deputies to Garland Road on Sunday night. Officials said that Emerson is the one who called for help.

Emerson let out a sigh before stating, “There’s been a shooting; you need to come now.”

He described Dick as a friend and pleaded for help to arrive.

But the two had gotten into an argument before the shooting, and he recalled Dick being “really angry.” He described Dick sprinting in his direction shortly before shots were fired.

“I came in my [expletive] camper, and he came in through the door chasing me, and I shot him in his neck,” Emerson said. “We got into a [expletive] argument, dude. I told him, like, I’m going inside and going to bed; like, leave me the [expletive] alone, and he came [expletive] sprinting at me, man. He didn’t give me a [expletive] choice, dude. I didn’t want to do that [expletive], dude.”

Throughout the 20-minute recording, Emerson could be heard pleading to Dick, “Why the [expletive] did you come in here after me?”

“I hear sirens,” Emerson told the dispatcher. “I’m going to walk towards the end of the driveway. I don’t have a gun. It is clear, and no magazine inside the camper.”