A Coalmont, Tennessee, man faces arraignment Dec. 10 on charges in Grundy County of second-degree murder in the February shooting death of 39-year-old Bradford Orion Meeks.
Meeks was found dead Feb. 10 after an argument at a home on Lockhart Town Road in Coalmont, according to authorities. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was requested by the 12th Judicial District Attorney’s Office to probe the shooting.
Meeks was shot during the altercation and pronounced dead at a regional hospital, TBI officials said. During the course of the investigation, the TBI developed information that identified 64-year-old George David Byers Jr., described as an acquaintance of the victim, as the person responsible for Meeks’ death, according to a statement from the state agency.
A Grundy County grand jury issued an indictment Nov. 12 charging George David Byers Jr. with one count of second-degree murder, and he was taken into custody Nov. 14, the TBI said. Second-degree murder is a class A felony.
Grundy County Sheriff Clint Shrum, who was out of town on Wednesday and declined to comment on the arrest, said early in the investigation that Byers was the father of Meeks’ then-girlfriend, Brandy Shrum. Meeks and the woman had an argument earlier on the evening of the shooting.