Affidavit: Clinton man shot at two people before being shot

 

Note: This story was updated at 3:20 p.m.

The man shot in Clinton last week had first shot at two people before one of them, his son, shot back, according to police and an arrest warrant filed last week.

The warrant includes an affidavit, which is a brief description of an alleged crime. It alleged that Terry Lee Crawford, 61, who was arrested Monday, had shot at Joshua and Ashlee Crawford before Joshua Crawford shot back.

The shooting last week was reported at about 4:42 p.m. Wednesday, December 26, near the intersection of Lee Lane and State Route 61, which connects Oak Ridge and Clinton. Lee Lane is near a gas station and convenience store and the entrance to the Mariner Point residential subdivision.

At the time of the shooting, according to the affidavit, Joshua and Ashlee Crawford were in their house on Lee Lane when they heard gun shots, which sounded very close to their home.

After retrieving his firearm, Joshua Crawford opened a garage door to see what was happening outside, said the affidavit, filed by Clinton Police Department Detective Sergeant Danielle K. Alexander.

Both Joshua and Ashlee Crawford told Alexander they saw Terry Crawford, dressed in all black, walking toward his house, which is next to his son’s.

Joshua Crawford walked up to the lot where Terry Crawford came from with his firearm tucked into the back of his pants, the affidavit said.

Joshua and Ashlee Crawford then saw Terry Crawford come from the side of his home holding a gun, according to the affidavit.

“Terry Crawford then aimed his gun at Josh Crawford,” the affidavit said. “Ashlee Crawford started to scream when she saw Terry Crawford, and she states Terry Crawford fired several shots at her and then shot several times at Joshua Crawford in the lot next to their house.”

Joshua Crawford told police he returned fire after Terry Crawford started shooting at him, according to the affidavit.

Joshua Crawford said Terry Crawford fell to the ground and crawled toward his front door. Joshua Crawford was able to get up and run to his house, the affidavit said.

 

When the Clinton Police Department arrived, officers found Terry Crawford on the ground in front of his home. He was bleeding from an apparent gunshot wound, the Clinton Police Department said. He was reportedly shot in the buttocks, and he was taken by ambulance to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville.

Investigators believe that a feud between Crawford and his son led to the shooting, and Terry Crawford allegedly came on to his son Joshua’s property with a loaded gun and fired several shots toward the house, WYSH Radio in Clinton reported last week.

“This particular dispute was reportedly over the positioning of a floodlight on Joshua’s house, and at least one of the shots was believed to have been fired at the offending light,” WYSH said. “Joshua exited his home and returned fire, striking his father once in the rear end. Joshua was not struck by any gunfire.”

In the affidavit, Alexander said police found a 9mm H&K handgun next to Terry Crawford. There was also an empty magazine next to him, Alexander said.

The Clinton Police Department was observed examining and taking pictures of an area near a floodlight on Joshua Crawford’s home after the shooting last Wednesday.

The warrant filed last Thursday charged Terry Crawford with the unlawful possession of a weapon, a Class B felony. The charge was for possessing a firearm while previously being convicted of a felony crime of violence involving the use of a deadly weapon, the CPD said.

Terry Crawford also had an outstanding warrant for violation of probation in Anderson County, the Clinton Police Department said.

Terry Crawford was arrested Monday when he was released from UT Medical Center, and he was taken to the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton. His bond has been set at $1.7 million, an unusually large bond.

The investigation of the shooting continues, and more charges are pending, the CPD said.

The felony conviction cited in the warrant for unlawful possession of a weapon is from a case in Anderson County in August 2014. In that case, Terry Crawford pleaded guilty to two felony counts of aggravated assault in March 2015. That incident also occurred on Lee Lane.

In that case, Crawford had been charged with five counts of aggravated assault and possessing a handgun while intoxicated after he allegedly entered a different home, also owned by a Crawford family, and started making threats and attempted to physically assault several of the four victims, according to affidavits filed then by CPD Patrolman Adam Warren. One of the victims in this case was Crawford’s sister.

“The victims stated that they felt Terry was trying to cause them bodily harm,” the affidavits said. “Terry went outside on the porch only to immediately re-enter the residence with a 380 pistol in hand.”

One of the victims was able to kick Crawford’s right arm, causing him to drop the pistol. The man secured the pistol, and Crawford returned to his home, where police located him, the affidavits said.

“Terry stated that he had a couple of beers that evening and took a handgun with him,” Warren said. “I could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage on Terry.”

One of the alleged victims fell and injured her right left while trying to run from Crawford that day, according to the affidavits, and she was taken by an Anderson County EMS ambulance to Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge.

 

Terry Crawford pleaded guilty in Anderson County Criminal Court to two counts of aggravated assault in that case in a plea by information in March 2015. A plea by information occurs when a defendant pleads guilty before they have been formally charged in an indictment. Four of the six charges, including possessing a handgun while intoxicated, were dismissed, presumably as part of the plea deal.

Crawford received a six-year sentence with credit for time served (he had served a month and several days), with the rest of the sentence to be served on state-supervised probation. He was to submit to a drug and alcohol assessment and follow any recommendations, be subject to random drug screens, and surrender his weapon. He was to attend at least two Alcoholic Anonymous meeting per month, consume no alcohol, complete a mental health assessment, finish at least 16 hours of community service per year, and have no contact with the four victims, according to the criminal judgment filed in Anderson County Criminal Court.

On Thursday, the day after the shooting, the Seventh Judicial District Attorney General’s Office called Crawford a “danger to society” and asked that his bond be revoked or increased in two of his previous cases, including the aggravated assault case. Crawford had been out on bond on a violation of probation and amended violation of probation in that case.

The other case involves two charges of driving under the influence, reckless endangerment, and reckless driving. That’s from an incident that allegedly occurred in December 2017. Crawford was indicted on those charges on April 3. His bond had been set at $10,000, and he was released on bond in that case on October 5.

 

Crawford has had other disputes with family members, including another one over a floodlight, according to Anderson County court records.

In one of the previous cases, Crawford allegedly vandalized his sister’s house, also on Lee Lane, with a tractor in October, also because of a floodlight, the court records said. That case is pending in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton.

In that case, Clinton Police Department Officer Mark Pack and Sergeant Brad Kidwell looked at the sister’s house and found scrape marks where Crawford allegedly tried to knock a floodlight off the side of the sister’s house, according to an affidavit filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court. There were tractor tire marks in front of the sister’s house, Pack said in the affidavit.

Officers had already been to Crawford’s house twice that day, the affidavit said. When officers knocked on Crawford’s front door to speak with him during the vandalism call, he exited the house through a side door and started yelling very loudly, swearing at the officers, the affadavit said.

“Defendant was very intoxicated and unsteady on his feet when he was shouting obscenities at us,” Pack wrote.

Crawford’s wife told Pack that Crawford took the tractor to his sister’s house and was going to “knock down a floodlight that he says shines on their residence all night long,” according to the affidavit.

A second amendment of violation of probation filed against Crawford on Friday alleged 13 violations of probation rules, some with multiple counts, including from the case where he was indicted on DUI charges in the December 2017 case, the alleged vandalism of his sister’s house in October, the alleged shooting at his son’s house in December, contacting a victim when he wasn’t supposed to, using intoxicants, failing to show he has completed two Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and failing to provide proof of completing community service.

In an earlier case involving his son, Crawford pleaded guilty in 2016 in a best interest plea to a reduced charge of attempted assault after throwing a chair at his son, striking him in the knee, according to affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court. He was sentenced to six months mail-in probation. At the time of the alleged assault, Crawford’s son had been trying to help his aunt, Crawford’s sister, start a car on Lee Lane, according to the affidavits, but Crawford had allegedly started “talking trash” and seemed to be very angry.

See previous story here.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

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