Hamilton County Sheriff's Office / Tyler L. Roberts
Hamilton County deputies shot and killed a man after a chase that started in North Georgia on Sunday night.
Two deputies were also shot and injured in the exchange of gunfire, according to a news release from the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.
The man killed was Tyler L. Roberts, 31, according to a news release from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
An 18-month-old child in Roberts' car, identified as his son, was not seriously injured, the Sheriff's Office said.
Catoosa County deputies responded to reports of domestic violence involving an armed person at a home on Karen Drive in Ringgold, near Costco, around 8:30 p.m. Sunday, according to a statement from Catoosa County Sheriff Gary Sisk.
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A woman outside the home was yelling as Roberts was in a car trying to leave, the statement said. The woman said her baby was in the car and Roberts was taking him, according to the statement.
Roberts hit a parked car and ran over a bicycle while trying to leave, deflating his passenger front tire, the Sheriff's Office said.
When deputies confronted him with weapons drawn, Roberts reportedly raised the baby up in front of him, according to the office. Deputies told him to stop, but Roberts drove through them, hitting one in the leg, the office said, though the deputy was not injured.
Hamilton County deputies took over the chase after Roberts crossed into Tennessee on Interstate 75, the TBI said. Deputies used spike strips to stop and box in Roberts' car near the Ooltewah exit around mile marker 12, the Sheriff's Office said.
Roberts reportedly then started shooting at deputies, who returned fire, struck and killed him, according to the TBI.
The two Hamilton County deputies involved were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Their names have not yet been released.
The 18-month-old was recovered from the car and also taken for medical review.
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Deputies identified Roberts as the woman's boyfriend and the child's father. Both Roberts and the woman live at the home and had been arguing earlier that day when Roberts reportedly threatened her with a knife and gun, according to the Catoosa County Sheriff's Office. She told deputies that Roberts slashed her car's tires and kept her phone from her so she could not leave, possibly because he worried she would take their child with her, the release said.
The TBI will investigate the shooting at the request of Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp, typical protocol for fatal shootings by law enforcement. After the agency completes its report, Wamp will decide whether the shooting was justified or warrants criminal charges.
"While it is early in the investigative phase of this incident, it is apparent this individual was intent on getting away from authorities and clearly didn't care who he endangered in the process," Sheriff Austin Garrett said in the news release. "I am grateful the child is safe and our deputies only sustained non-life-threatening injuries."
Roberts was set to appear in Hamilton County General Sessions Court on Monday for charges including criminal impersonation and traffic violations from a December 2022 arrest, court records show.
He was released from the Macon State Prison in Georgia on Dec. 21, about five weeks before this incident, prison records show.
He had been serving a sentence since February for three aggravated assault convictions from 2013, according to prison records. He also previously served four years in prison in Georgia from 2014 to 2018, records show.
Contact Ellen Gerst at egerst@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6319.