Key Takeaways
- A man armed with a sword was shot and died at the scene in Dandridge, TN.
- The shooter was detained, interviewed, and released the same night after investigators determined the threat was credible.
- Tennessee law supports the use of force against imminent threats, justifying the shooter’s actions.
- The investigation remains open, with the identities of both the shooter and the deceased undisclosed.
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DANDRIDGE, TN — A man armed with a sword is dead, and the person who shot him was questioned and released the same night.
Jefferson County Central Dispatch took a call about a shooting on Riverfront Circle just after 10 p.m. on Thursday, May 28. Deputies were on scene in about four minutes and detained the shooter right away. They started CPR on the man who had been shot, but he died at the scene.
Investigators with the Sheriff’s Criminal Investigation Division and agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation worked the case. The Sheriff’s Office said the shooter was taken in, interviewed and then released.
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Here is the part that matters. Investigators say the preliminary work and the evidence they recovered show the man who was killed was armed with a sword when the shots were fired.
A sword is obviously a deadly weapon. Tennessee law does not ask anyone to stand there and find out what an armed attacker intends to do with it. The right to meet a threat of death or serious bodily harm with force is exactly why the shooter walked out of that interview a free person.
The body was sent to the Knox County Regional Forensic Center for an autopsy. Neither the shooter nor the man who died has been publicly identified, and the investigation is still open.
