connection to the fatal shooting of a sheriff’s deputy and the wounding of another during a traffic stop last week in eastern Tennessee has been apprehended, authorities said.
Kenneth DeHart, 42, was taken into custody Tuesday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced. The Blount County Sheriff’s Office said the arrest was made in Knoxville. No immediate details on his capture were provided.
Blount County Sheriff’s Deputy Greg McCowan, 43, was killed in the Feb. 8 shooting, while Deputy Shelby Eggers, 22, was treated at a hospital and released, the sheriff’s office said last week.
On the night of Feb. 8, the two deputies initiated a traffic stop on a sport utility vehicle in Maryville, Tennessee. The car had been stopped on suspicion of erratic driving, said Ryan Desmond, the district attorney general for Blount County.
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 then allegedly produced a gun and fired shots, striking both deputies, the police said. At least one deputy returned fire, and DeHart drove from the scene, the bureau said in a news release. McCowan later died at a hospital, according to authorities.
DeHart’s brother was arrested and charged with being an accessory for aiding the suspect after the homicide, Desmond said Friday. A woman identified by media outlets as the shooting suspect’s girlfriend also was arrested on an accessory charge Thursday night in adjoining Sevier County, where records show she was jailed Saturday.
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