Man charged in Catoosa homicide

Catoosa County almost made it an entire year without a homicide.

But a man is being held without bond in the Catoosa County Detention Facility today charged in the shooting death of his estranged wife and shooting another man in the arm on Halloween night.

Terry Lynn Hagan, 46, is charged with murder and aggravated assault after allegedly shooting the man in the arm with a .22-caliber handgun outside a house at 1610 E. State Line Road on Saturday. Catoosa County Sheriff Phil Summers said Mr. Hagan then went inside the house and shot his wife in the chest.

Mr. Hagan fled the scene on foot to a parked car about a block away, officials said.

Catoosa County officials declined to release the names of either victim.

Authorities arrived on the scene at about 8:11 p.m. Saturday and both victims were transported to the hospital, where the female victim died, according to a news release.

Sheriff’s deputies later found Mr. Hagan at a Walker County residence where he was arrested and then transported back to Catoosa County.

Judith Gross lives two houses down from where the crime took place, and though she didn’t immediately hear the shots fired, she said neighbors quickly let her know what was happening. Ms. Gross lives with her daughter and two grandchildren, and said she usually feels safe in her neighborhood.

“It makes me nervous to think he was out here running loose,” she said. “The kids were scared to go to bed last night.”

Ms. Gross said few people in the neighborhood knew the victims because they had moved into the house within the last several weeks.

Saturday’s incident is Catoosa County’s first homicide of the year, officials said.