An intruder fled a Briceville home Wednesday after the resident, who had been asleep upstairs, woke up and called out, authorities said.
The resident had heard someone break into his home and walk up his stairs, Anderson County Sheriff Paul White said in a press release Thursday.
After the intruder fled, the resident and a neighbor saw a white Jeep leave the area. The neighbor followed the Jeep in her car but lost sight of it as it traveled toward Lake City, White said.
Information from WYSH Radio
In the wake of last week’s deadly school shootings in Connecticut, many people in the area have wondered what is being done to keep their children safe at school.
WYSH asked Clinton Police Chief Rick Scarbrough how often officers conduct walk-throughs at the city’s three elementary schools. Scarbrough said every school in the city, including the three county schools within the city limits, are visited by officers two to three times per day in unscheduled, random, drop-in visits.
Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said there are eight full-time school resource officers, or SROs, who rotate between the county’s 17 schools. That number includes SROs who are assigned to just one school, namely the two county high schools.
The school shootings in Newtown, Conn., on Friday have focused attention on school security in Tennessee, led to pledges to increase the police presence at some schools, and bolstered calls for more school resource officers across the state.
It has also revived an intense debate about gun control in the United States.
The shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown last week killed 20 children, six adults, the gunman, and his mother. On Tuesday, the National Rifle Association said it was prepared to “offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again” and would have a major news conference on Friday.
In Tennessee, a few legislators have proposed requiring school resource officers in all schools, training at least one staff member to use firearms, or allowing teachers to carry handguns into schools not patrolled by armed police officers. But it’s not yet clear how much support—or funding—those proposals will have.
In Oak Ridge, Board of Education Chair Keys Fillauer said education officials will continue to advocate for more school resource officers, or SROs. But local officials said adding SROs could depend upon funding.
In Anderson County, Mayor Terry Frank sent out information on Tuesday on the positive measures taken this week by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department after last week’s shooting, including four walk-throughs at Dutch Valley Elementary School on Monday.
An Athens man is accused of “head butting” an Oak Ridge woman on Friday night, punching and kicking her, and choking her “to the point of unconsciousness,” authorities said.
Gerald D. Wells, 26, has been charged with aggravated assault (domestic), and he remained jailed Tuesday morning.
To help save lives this holiday season, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is launching a special “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” crackdown to stop impaired drivers and to save lives on our roadways. Sheriff’s deputies will be aggressively looking for drunk and impaired drivers.
“Lots of folks will be out during this busy holiday season, enjoying themselves and the holiday festivities, and we want everyone to be safe on our roadways,” Anderson County Sheriff Paul White said. “That’s why we will be stepping up enforcement to catch and arrest impaired drivers. If you are caught drinking and driving impaired, you will be arrested. No warnings. No excuses.”
There are three simple steps people can take to stay safe and out of trouble:
Note: This story was last updated at 8:12 p.m.
Four people have been arrested after two separate robberies in Anderson County on Saturday, one at knifepoint at a store on Lake City Highway and the other at a home on Sulphur Springs Road, authorities said.
The first robbery occurred at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Town Talk Market on Lake City Highway, Anderson County Sheriff Paul White said in a Monday afternoon news release. The suspect allegedly threatened to cut the clerk’s throat, the sheriff said. The clerk said he gave the suspect money from the cash register, and the suspect left the store, an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department incident report said.
The suspect was reportedly accompanied by another man and woman, and witnesses described their older model black Chevrolet sports utility vehicle to deputies. The description was broadcast to all area law enforcement agencies. Investigators also determined the identity of the robbery suspect and broadcast that information as well, White said.
Information from WYSH Radio
A Clinton man was struck by a car late Friday afternoon in Clinton.
The Clinton Police Department reports that 30-year-old Carl Bunch had been parked in one of the angled spaces on West Broad Street at the Anderson County Courthouse at around 5 p.m. Friday. Bunch was standing at the rear of his vehicle putting his new license plate on when a car driven by a 16-year-old girl traveling along Broad Street swerved out of its lane and hit Bunch and his car’s bumper.
Information from WYSH Radio
The Clinton Police Department and bomb squad technicians from Knoxville disposed of an object that was found in the parking lot of the Weigel’s on North Charles Seivers Boulevard on Wednesday and believed to be a hand grenade.
Police were called to the store at around 3:45 p.m. Wednesday and shown a suspicious-looking item in the parking lot. A customer said he had noticed the object when he got out of his vehicle.
A Knoxville man remained jailed on aggravated kidnapping and domestic assault charges Friday, accused of hitting his ex-girlfriend after she refused to make Kool-Aid, taking her keys and cell phone, and pushing a couch in front of a door, authorities said.
Robert Joseph Atkins, 31, allegedly left the home on Mooncrest Lane in Claxton with the victim’s three-month-old son after he let her go next door to get him a cigarette, Anderson County court records said. The victim called the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department from the neighbor’s house.
An Anderson County deputy said he hit a Claxton man with two five-second bursts from a Taser on Wednesday before he was able to handcuff and arrest him.
Anderson County Deputy Jonathan A. Bryant said he was patrolling near Mooncrest Lane and Dunn Lane in Claxton at about 8 p.m. Wednesday when he saw the defendant, Dennis Lee Reynolds, 49, with a female near a van, according to court records and an incident report.
Bryant said the two “dropped down low to the ground” when they saw his police car, the records said. They moved to the passenger side of the van, opposite of the deputy.
Information from WYSH Radio
Investigators are still working to determine what started a fire that did some damage to the Oliver Springs High School football field house.
According to Oliver Springs Assistant Chief Justin Bailey, the fire happened sometime over the weekend. The coaching staff discovered the damage on Monday.
Willow Brook Elementary School was locked down around lunchtime Wednesday after a nearby burglary, Oak Ridge Police Lt. Robin Smith said this afternoon.
Smith said Oak Ridge Police Lt. John Kelly called the school and recommended it be locked down.
“The school was never involved,” Smith said. “There was nothing that happened at the school. Lt. Kelly just asked them to lock it down as a precaution.”
