MARYVILLE (AP) – United States law enforcement in eastern Tennessee continued their search on Saturday for a man who is accused of fatally shooting one sheriff’s deputy and injuring another during a traffic stop.
The Blount County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday increased the reward to USD100,000 for information leading to the arrest of 42-year-old Kenneth DeHart.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said it has issued warrants charging DeHart with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm in the Thursday evening shootings.
Deputy Greg McCowan, 43, was killed in the shooting, while Deputy Shelby Eggers, 22, was treated at a hospital and released, the sheriff’s office said on Friday.
A sheriff’s office spokesperson said the search was ongoing on Saturday. Law enforcement officers were expected to conduct a “nontactical ground search” in an area northeast of Maryville where DeHart’s vehicle was found abandoned, WBIR-TV in Knoxville reported.
“We’re committed to track him down,” Blount County Sheriff James Lee Berrong said on Friday.
“We’re going to get him and he’s going to be brought to justice in Blount County.”
The bureau said in a Friday news release that deputies had initiated a traffic stop on a sport utility vehicle. The car had been stopped on suspicion of erratic driving, said the district attorney general for Blount County Ryan Desmond.
The driver, identified by authorities as DeHart, refused to get out of the SUV, and a deployed stun gun had no effect, the bureau said.
The driver produced a gun and fired shots, striking both deputies, then at least one deputy returned fire and DeHart drove from the scene, the bureau news release said. McCowan later died at a hospital, according to authorities.
