Joseph Matthew Angelucci was a 24-year-old deputy with the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office who was shot while attempting to serve mental inquest papers in Lexington, Kentucky on November 4, 1988. The papers were for a man named William Bennett at a Smith Street residence; a struggle occurred and Bennett obtained Deputy Angelucci’s service weapon and shot him.

Deputy Angelucci survived for eighteen days after the shooting but died of his wounds on November 23, 1988. He had served with the sheriff’s office for three years; his father was retired Fayette Circuit Judge Armand Angelucci. William Bennett, 33 at the time, was apprehended and later tried. A jury in 1989 found Bennett guilty of murder and also determined he was mentally ill, and he received a 120-year prison sentence.

Does anyone have memories of Deputy Angelucci’s service in Fayette County or information about the November 1988 incident that could add detail to the record?