'Bullet missed my head by about six inches' says Olive Hill officer

The small-town eastern Kentucky police officer shot at on Monday said he is lucky to be alive.

Olive Hill Officer Joe Preston took to social media on Tuesday and posted photos of his arm, which was peppered with fast-flying glass from his cruiser’s window after 30-year-old Wesley Cornell, of Vanceburg, took a shot at Preston as he sat in his police vehicle in a parking lot.

Preston wrote on his personal Facebook page:

“The good Lord had his blanket of armor around me yesterday. Suspect apparently attempted to murder a random police officer by shooting him in the head with a high powered rifle. Bullet missed my head by about six inches.”

The shooting occurred at 3:15 Monday afternoon. Cornell was arrested Tuesday morning at 1:30 at his Lewis County residence after police discovered a surveillance photo of his vehicle leaving the scene of the shooting.

The suspect, charged with attempted murder of a police officer, is being held in the Carter County Detention Center on a $1 million cash bond.

(Headline photo: Olive Hill Officer Joe Preston’s arm and police cruiser, courtesy of Facebook)