Second Man Charged in Deadly Perry County Fight, Arrested After Manhunt

Danny "Blue" Harold Asher, identified in police documents as Danny Harold "Blue" Asher and reported in various accounts as 42 or 43, was taken into custody in Leslie County on March 4 and booked on a murder warrant stemming from a shooting at an apartment complex in Perry County. Kentucky State Police troopers and Leslie County deputies arrested Asher after a tip about a suspicious person ended a nearly 24-hour manhunt across Eastern Kentucky.

The shooting occurred shortly before 10 a.m. March 3 in the parking lot of the Bubby Combs, variously reported as Buddy Combs, apartment complex on Darfork Road, where deputies responded to a shots-fired complaint and found the victim on the ground with a gunshot wound. Some outlets identify the victim as 27-year-old Ryan Hunt, while local reporting and the arrest warrant refer to the victim as Jason Ryan Huff; Perry County authorities have not published a definitive victim identification in the material distributed so far.

The probable-cause warrant, written by Perry County Sheriff’s Capt. Paul Campbell, the department’s lead detective, states that during video-recorded witness interviews three people, including Asher, confronted the victim just prior to the shooting. The warrant says investigators learned Asher and another person assaulted the victim, and that one of the two then shot the victim, an act the warrant characterizes as carried out with intent to cause death. The warrant also records a witness statement that Asher said following the incident that he had "just killed someone."

Perry County Sheriff Joe Engel characterized the people involved in the incident bluntly in a statement to the Herald-Leader, saying, "These aren’t innocent people." By Tuesday afternoon after the shooting, investigators had located Asher’s last known address in the Bonnyman community on Hull School Road and his wife’s place of work, and believed Asher to be armed while at large.

Local coverage and law-enforcement releases say two women who were with Asher at the scene fled after shots were fired, and deputies said charges may still be filed against those two individuals. Deputies are conferring with the commonwealth’s attorney’s office about additional charges, according to law-enforcement statements included in reporting on the case.

After his March 4 arrest in Leslie County, Asher was lodged in the Kentucky River Regional Jail and, according to the warrant notice, was to be transported back to Perry County to face murder charges. Hazard-Herald reporting noted Asher was set to be arraigned March 6; court filings and arraignment records will clarify whether that appearance occurred and whether other suspects have been formally charged.

The investigation remains active: the warrant and Capt. Paul Campbell’s narrative provide the most detailed account to date of how deputies say the confrontation unfolded, while discrepancies in public reporting — including the victim’s name and Asher’s reported age — remain unresolved pending confirmation from Perry County officials, court records, and the coroner.