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Deputies fired 28 shots at suicidal man; hit only once

Knoxville News ^ | September 18, 2003 | J.J. STAMBAUGH

Posted on by Mulder

A half-dozen Knox County sheriff's deputies fired 28 shots at a suicidal man wielding a pellet gun and bearing a target on his chest, superficially wounding him with a single round.

Records released this week detail the number of shots fired in the incident about 1 a.m. Tuesday at the Woodlands West apartment complex, near Walker Springs Road. After the shooting, 51-yearold Thomas Martin McGouey was treated at the University of Tennessee Medical Center for a gunshot wound to his right shoulder.

McGouey was released from the hospital Wednesday evening and then booked into the Knox County Detention Facility at 8:39 p.m., according to jail records. He is being held in lieu of bonds totaling $100,500 and faces a Sept. 29 court date.

Sheriff Tim Hutchison told WBIR-TV, Channel 10 that deputies found a suicide note in McGouey's apartment, as well as a detailed map of where McGouey planned to stand to ensure being shot by the deputies. Hutchison also said McGouey had painted a bull's-eye symbol on his chest. The words "Let Me Die" had been scrawled on McGouey's torso, Hutchison said.

"This individual had been planning this down to the very last detail about how he would get the police officer to shoot him," Hutchison said. "What he didn't plan was only being wounded and not being killed."

According to records, visibility at the scene was poor because it was night and the only source of illumination was artificial lighting.

Hutchison said that none of the officers has been placed on administrative leave. Because McGouey wasn't killed in the incident, the investigation will not be "quite as intense" as it would have been had he died, Hutchison said.

Hutchison also told WBIR that "one of the officers opened fire, striking him (McGouey) one time in the upper right shoulder." The sheriff didn't mention that other deputies had also fired shots.

The evidence the Sheriff's Office says it seized from McGouey's apartment and the bull's-eye symbol that Hutchison said was on McGouey's chest weren't mentioned in arrest warrants on file at Knox County General Sessions Court. The offense report concerning the incident hasn't been made public.

Although Hutchison, department spokeswoman Martha Dooley and other officials either didn't return phone calls from the News Sentinel or declined comment, arrest warrants and internal reports submitted by the deputies involved provide a general account of what happened Tuesday.

According to arrest warrants, deputies were sent to McGouey's apartment at 12:48 a.m. to investigate "a man in the parking lot firing a weapon."

A dispatcher relayed to the officers that the suspect had fired four shots, and was also "reported to be threatening to kill himself and others," records state.

"Upon arrival, officers observed the defendant in a field near the entrance to Woodlands West apartments," wrote deputy Mark Kennedy, who signed the warrants. "Upon approaching, the defendant was observed standing with his hands behind his back.

"Several officers gave clear verbal commands for the defendant to show his hands and drop whatever was behind his back. The defendant refused to comply and began walking toward officers, at which time the defendant raised his hand and pointed a weapon in the direction of (Kennedy)."

While it is unclear how many officers were at the scene, six of them opened fire with their .40-caliber handguns at 1:02 a.m. from distances ranging between 25 yards and 30 yards away.

When he was taken into custody, McGouey had a "strong odor of an alcoholic beverage about his breath and person" and was subsequently charged with public intoxication in addition to aggravated assault, a felony.

Hutchison told WBIR that McGouey's weapon was a pellet gun. In their reports, the deputies stated only that McGouey had a "pistol" of unspecified type.

McGouey never fired his weapon, the officers said, and his only known arrest was a 1989 DUI charge in New York.

It was unclear who fired the shot that hit McGouey, but the following deputies fired shots during the encounter:

* Kennedy, a nine-year department veteran, fired nine shots from an estimated distance of 25 yards. He said the bullets that missed McGouey struck a treeline. Kennedy was the only deputy who said he had time to "sight and aim" before opening fire.

* Ben Hibbert, a 13-year veteran, fired one shot that apparently struck the ground.

* Clifford Russell, a nine-year veteran, fired seven rounds, most or all of which went into the woods behind the suspect.

* Darryl Hamilton, a seven-year veteran, fired one round that apparently went into the woods.

* Grayson Fritts, a four-year veteran, fired six rounds. Most or all of the bullets went into the woods.

* Lee Strzelecki, a two-year veteran, fired four rounds, most or all of which apparently went into the ground.

Hutchison has asked the Knox County E-911 center to withhold from the public, pending the investigation's completion, taped recordings made of E-911 transmissions of the incident, according to Jack Price, E-911 records specialist.

The News Sentinel requested the E-911 tapes Thursday. Such tapes are customarily made during the course of most police investigations and are considered public records.

Until 2001, they were released to the press and public upon request, but the Knox County E-911 center has since adopted a policy that allows public records requests to be turned down if they might jeapordize an ongoing police investigation, Price said. For the records to remain secret, the investigating agency must make the request in writing, and the Sheriff's Office did so, Price said.

"I can't let them go until they (Sheriff's Office officials) tell me to," Price said.



TOPICS:

Crime/Corruption

US: Tennessee

KEYWORDS:

bang

banglist

crime

oops

pigs





To: *bang_list

bang



To: Mulder

28 shots and only ONE HIT???? sheeesh!



by 3 posted onby CAPPSMADNESS (Tagline under construction..... next 20 posts...... merge right........)

To: Mulder

Good thing the man wasn't a dog.



To: Mulder

A target on his chest and they couldn't hit him?



To: CAPPSMADNESS

28 shots and only ONE HIT???? sheeesh! One can only hope that they were only trying to wing him, if not, give 'em the Barney Fiffe(sp?) treatment.



by 6 posted onby StriperSniper (The slippery slope is getting steeper.)

To: Mulder

OK, not to poke fun at this situation, but this has just GOT to be embarassing to the cops shooting at a man with a target on his chest and hitting him only once, and barely once.



To: Mulder

Ambivalence time. I mean, I'm glad they missed him, but I'm not really happy about it. I'll only say this - a human-sized target is harder to hit at 25-30 yards with a pistol than you might think. ...but it's not that hard...



To: Mulder

A story that makes the case for better gun control on the part of the cops.



To: Mulder

The cops must have been firing just to warn and scare him, probably even the one who hit him. No PD can be this bad.



by 10 posted onby Mind-numbed Robot (Not all things that need to be done need to be done by the government.)

To: Billthedrill

"Please, look out, the shooting is a bit wild, and that kind of shooting. Saved a man's life." -- Dutch Schultz.



To: Mulder

Sounds like a Reno911 episode if you ask me.



To: Mind-numbed Robot

Got him Andy!



To: Mind-numbed Robot

The cops must have been firing just to warn and scare him, probably even the one who hit him. I don't think the PD's teach firing a "warning shot" anymore due to liability concerns and use-of-force protocols (i.e., firing a shot in the direction of someone, even if not aiming at them, still constitutes deadly force) No PD can be this bad. A lot of cops are lousy shots. They figure that just because they put on uniform, they will automatically become a crack shot. Also, they know if they do use their weapon, they'll have an FOP lawyer to back them up.



To: Mulder

I would like to be able to assume these officers were intentionally shooting wide, but at 25 yards at night they very likely had no prayer of being able to tell his handgun wasn't a threat. Only a fool or a TV cowboy intentionally "wings" a man with a gun.



I guess the one lucky hit will earn the firer the nickname "Deadeye"...



To: 07055

A story that makes the case for better gun control on the part of the cops What will the "only the police and military should have guns" crowd have to say about this story?





"We aim to miss"

"We aim to miss"

To: Mulder

Good thing these guys carry automatics!!



To: Mulder

McGouey vs. Officer(s) McGoo. Kind of reminds me of the guy who was shot in D.C. several years back while threatening to jump from a bridge.



To: CAPPSMADNESS

28 shots and only ONE HIT???? sheeesh! If Joe Q. Citizen has this "hit ratio" in a self-defense situation, he probably would have been charged with some crime in most jurisdictions in this country.



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