Hamilton County deputy involved in shooting [photos]

Man being treated at hospital; TBI investigation underway

TBI investigates after a shooting involving a Hamilton County Sheriff's Office deputy on Wilkes Avenue on Friday, Jan. 19, 2018, in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn. TBI is investigating the shooting.
TBI investigates after a shooting involving a Hamilton County Sheriff's Office deputy on Wilkes Avenue on Friday, Jan. 19, 2018, in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn. TBI is investigating the shooting.

Susan Bowling wasn't alarmed when she heard gunshots Friday morning at her home on Nelson Drive near Lakesite.

"I heard pow. Then pow pow. And then another pow." Bowling said from the driveway of her modest white house, on her way to a doctor's appointment.

"I didn't think nothing of it," she said. Pointing down the narrow asphalt lane, she added, "The lady down there has a lot of cats, and she shoots in the air when dogs come around."

But it wasn't that. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking into a shooting involving a Hamilton County sheriff's deputy at a trailer home on Wilkes Lane, a few yards up a steep hillside from Bowling's house.

A TBI news release said the deputy was trying to arrest someone outside the trailer when he fired and hit the man in the leg. Neither the deputy nor the man he shot has been named. TBI said the man's injuries were not life-threatening and he was being treated at Erlanger hospital. The deputy was not injured.

The sheriff's office said in a news release that the deputy was responding to a call to remove an unwanted person from the home. Neither news release mentioned a time, but Bowling said she thinks she heard the shots between 8:45 and 9 a.m.

Another neighbor who lives up the hill from the trailer said he didn't hear the shots but did hear sirens. He stood in the corner of his yard almost across from the trailer and watched as EMS arrived and police cars converged on the scene.

The neighbor, who didn't give his name, said he saw the EMTs transport the shot man on a gurney to the ambulance.

"He was alive. He had plenty of air in him. He was bellowing and hollering," the neighbor said.

He said the landlady who owns the five trailers lined up along Wilkes Lane came to his house to say there had been a shooting but it was over and there was no reason for alarm.

The listed owner of the property, George Ann Anderson, could not be reached for comment Friday.

The neighbor and Bowling both said most of the trailers' tenants are short-timers. Bowling said she's lived there two years and hasn't met any of them. The neighbor said there's always a lot of coming and going, and deputies patrol the street regularly.

"They move in and out so much you never get acquainted with them," he said. "I try to stay away from them."

The sheriff's office release said the district attorney general asked the TBI to investigate, which is common practice when an officer shoots someone. The deputy has been placed on administrative leave, also standard procedure.

The TBI news release said results of the agency's investigation will be turned over to District Attorney General Neal Pinkston for review.

Contact staff writer Judy Walton at jwalton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6416.

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