Shots fired at home in Grundy County

A Grundy County, Tenn., father says his family won't feel safe until a suspect is found in connection with shots fired into a home that struck his 17-year-old son in the head.

To encourage any witnesses, the family is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, said Benji Goins, father of shooting victim Timmy Goins, a Grundy County High School junior.

Goins says he feels lucky to have his son alive at home and that he has no idea who apparently fired a high-powered rifle into the teen's grandmother's home about midnight Sunday. The home is between Tracy City and Coalmont on State Route 56, the main highway between the two towns.

"He was at his grandmother's house," the father said Tuesday. "He was sitting in front of the window watching the TV and somebody shot through the window, [the bullet] grazed his head, went through the TV, through the wall and out the other end of the house.

"Some of the fragments went under his scalp. Nothing penetrated his skull. It blew chunks of his hair out."

Timmy Goins was treated at a local hospital and later released. His father said the Goins family hopes to hear of an arrest soon.

Officials at the Grundy County Sheriff's Office said an investigation is ongoing but Sheriff Brent Myers could not be reached for comment Tuesday about any progress.

Benji Goins said he's not sure why his family was a target but he's almost certain the shooting was intentional.

"I'd feel better if I thought it was just a random act of violence or something. But from the trajectory of the bullet, I don't believe it was really possible to have done it from the road," he said. "It was almost as if they had to come up to the window and look through the window."

The shot was fired from so close to the house, Timmy and his grandmother were unable to communicate for some time afterward, the father said.

"It rung their ears. And Timmy smelled what he thought was ... a cap gun, but it was gunpowder," Goins said.

Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Subscribe to his Facebook posts at www.facebook.com/benbenton1 or follow him at twitter.com/BenBenton on Twitter.