An argument between two Cleveland, Tenn., men turned deadly Tuesday morning.
Responding to a call, Cleveland police officers found Michael Swafford, 38, dead of an apparent gunshot wound inside a home at 1508 Goode St. in Cleveland.
Around the same time as the call about the homicide, Cleveland police officers responded to a crash near the residence on Goode Street. Officers investigating the crash determined that the man involved, Sean Angelo Davenport, 43, lived at the Goode Street home and possibly was linked to the shooting. A gun believed to have been used in the shooting was found in the vehicle. After Davenport was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital, he was charged with second-degree murder and taken into custody.
Neighbors said Davenport and his girlfriend, McKala Sednek, were renting the Goode Street house and Swafford would occasionally stay with them for periods of time.
Anita Cook and her daughter, Amanda Wells, have lived next door to Davenport and Sednek since February. Cook said the couple, who have a 16-month-old son, argued frequently.
Sean Angelo Davenport"It was just fightin' and fussin' all the time with those two," Cook said.
Cook said police had visited the house just the day before, though police were unable to immediately confirm that. She said that Sednek told her and Wells that Davenport hit her and put a gun to her head, but when police arrived to question her, she told a different story because she didn't want to get Davenport in trouble.
"She didn't tell officers that, and I wish she had, because they might have put him in jail and Michael would still be alive today," Cook said.
Wells described Swafford as "a really nice guy" who asked her out on a date two weeks ago. She said Swafford and Davenport were friends, and that he was over at Davenport and Sednek's house a lot. She said that whenever Davenport and Sednek got into an argument, he tried to stay out of it.
"He'd come outside, sit on the porch, or just take a walk up the road," Wells said.
Davenport was booked into Bradley County Jail Tuesday afternoon.
Contact staff writer Will Healey at whealey@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731.