Tennessee: Fugitive shoots self as officers approach

KNOXVILLE — Police say a Texas fugitive pulled out a handgun and fatally shot himself as officers approached him in a motel parking lot in Knoxville.

Knoxville Police spokesman Darrell DeBusk told The Knoxville News Sentinel that 44-year-old Timothy Liess of Leander, Texas, near Austin, died outside the Extended StayAmerica motel around midnight Monday.

DeBusk says Texas authorities warned them that Liess had vowed "he would not to go back to jail."

When three officers spotted him in the motel parking lot and ordered to get down on his knees, he complied. But DeBusk says he then pulled a handgun from a pocket and committed suicide.

DeBusk was unsure of the three felony charges facing the fugitive in Texas. He was wanted in Knoxville for writing a worthless check.