Photo contributed by the McMinn County Sheriff's Office. McMinn County Sheriff's Deputy Paul Redrup's body cam image from Saturday shows suspect Ricky Lee Womac drawing a .22-caliber mangnum revolver (lower left) a moment before Redrup jammed his own hand into the pistol's action preventing it from firing.Quick-thinking deputies are credited in McMinn County, Tenn., with disarming a wanted man in a crowded Athens Wal-Mart on Saturday after he drew a revolver on them while in the checkout line.
Ricky Lee Womac, 44, of Charleston, Tenn., was spotted by off-duty McMinn County narcotics detective Jared Price while the two men were shopping at the Wal-Mart. Price recognized Womac as a suspect wanted on outstanding warrants and kept an eye on him while he summoned other officers to the store.
Deputies Paul Redrup and Dylan Presswood got to the store a few minutes later, when Womac had reached the checkout line.
"At that point, Mr. Womac was at a cash register," McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy said in a release on the incident. "Deputy Redrup approached him from behind and told him he was under arrest. Womac pretended to place some money in his left coat pocket, and that was when he drew a .22-caliber magnum handgun and cocked it.
"Both deputies grabbed Womac and Deputy Redrup was able to place his hand in the revolver's action," Guy said. "Womac attempted to fire the weapon but the hammer came down on Redrup's hand."
Redrup had jammed his hand between the hammer and firing pin of the weapon, the sheriff said Monday. There were more than 50 people in the checkout lines, including a child and cashier who were just a few feet away. Price drew and then reholstered his weapon as the situation escalated.
Price, Presswood and Redrup wrestled Womac across the aisle and into the store's nail salon where they subdued him, Guy said.
Guy said the officers would have been justified in drawing their weapons and firing on Womac, but when they realized how crowded the scene was they decided to directly attack the man's revolver rather than take action that might have led to a shootout inside the store. The incident will be used in future training, the sheriff said.
Joe Guy"These officers were faced with a deadly force encounter from an armed and dangerous suspect who tried to shoot them. They had every right to shoot Mr. Womac, and would have been justified in doing so," Guy said in a news release. "But they relied on their overall training, and by not utilizing their own firearms these officers put themselves in danger for the sake of the safety of the other people in a crowded Wal-Mart. I'm very proud of the job they did. This could have been a very bad situation."
Womac has a criminal history that includes a conviction for facilitation to commit first-degree murder in the Christmas Day 1989 beating death of 36-year-old Leck Charles Nunley. Womac, Randy Hicks and Earnest Leroy Lawson were all convicted in the slaying in the old McMinn County Jail in downtown Athens.
Guy said that Nunley's three assailants "got drunk on something they made or smuggled into jail" when they got into an altercation with Nunley and beat him to death. Womac received a 25-year prison sentence in the killing, state court records show.
Womac was paroled last April.
Womac is now in custody on $500,000 bond on charges of three counts of attempted murder, resisting arrest, reckless endangerment and unlawful possession of a firearm. He was also charged on outstanding warrants with failure to appear in court on county and Calhoun police charges of evading arrest, theft, drug possession and possession of a firearm, all charges that were issued against him in the past month, authorities said.
Womac faces an arraignment hearing this week on the new charges, and authorities also may pursue federal firearms charges, according to Guy.
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or twitter.com/BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben.benton1 or 423-757-6569.