A Covington police officer was shot during a traffic stop in Newport Monday night. In an exchange of gunfire, the police officer also shot the suspect.

Kentucky State Police report that at approximately 6:18 p.m. Monday, Covington dispatch received a call from a local restaurant stating a male subject had brandished a firearm toward employees. The caller said the male subject had left the area and gave a vehicle description to authorities.

Acting on that information, Covington PD located the vehicle and began to initiate a traffic stop on West 4th St. as the suspected vehicle was crossing from Covington into Newport.

The Preliminary investigation shows the suspected vehicle came to a stop, gunshots were exchanged between the operator of that vehicle and a Covington PD officer.  Both the Covington officer and operator of the vehicle in question were injured and transported to a local hospital, with non-life-threatening injuries.  The investigation is being led by the KSP Critical incident response team and Dry Ridge Post.