Police and Fire Archives - Page 63 of 208

FBI investigates Kingston Pike bank robbery, describes suspect

Posted at 9:18 am April 5, 2017
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

The FBI is investigating a bank robbery at the U.S. Bank at 8845 Kingston Pike in Knoxville at about 5 p.m. April 4, 2017. (Photo: FBI)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating a bank robbery reported at a U.S. Bank on Kingston Pike in Knoxville on Tuesday afternoon.

The robbery was reported at the U.S. Bank at 8845 Kingston Pike at about 5 p.m. Tuesday.

The FBI reported that a white man entered the bank and demanded money with a note.

“After obtaining an undisclosed amount of money from the bank, the robber fled in a white, four-door sedan,” the FBI said.

The robber is described as a white male with gray hair down to his collar, and he is estimated to be about 6’0” and weigh about 250 pounds. He could be between 45-55 years old, and he was wearing a gray hooded sweat shirt, dark-colored sweat pants, white sneakers, glasses, and a dark-colored knit cap, the FBI said. [Read more…]

KCSO investigates robbery at gas station in Solway, describes suspects

Posted at 2:42 pm April 4, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit is investigating an armed robbery early Monday morning at a gas station in Solway. (Photo via Knox County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook)

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit is investigating an armed robbery early Monday morning at a gas station in Solway.

According to the initial investigation, two males entered the Kenjo Market, located at 8901 Oak Ridge Highway, around 4:18 a.m. Monday, the KCSO said. Armed with a handgun, the two robbed the business of an undisclosed amount of money and fled.

One suspect is described as a white male with brown hair, approximately 45-60 years old, and he is 5’8”-5’10” and estimated to weigh 180-200 pounds. He was wearing a white bandana around his neck, a red and black shirt, denim pants, and a dark-colored hat at the time of the robbery, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said. [Read more…]

Warrants: Anderson County man allegedly carjacked two vehicles in Clinton, tried to steal third

Posted at 11:34 am April 4, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Justin Wade Welch

An Anderson County man is facing 13 charges that include carjacking and robbery after allegedly taking two cars by force and trying to take another in Clinton on Thursday, and then fleeing from officers and resisting arrest, according to arrest warrants.

Justin Wade Welch, 30, remained jailed in the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Tuesday morning. His bond has been set at $500,000.

Welch has been charged with two counts of carjacking and one count of attempted carjacking. He’s also been charged with three counts of robbery and two counts of attempted robbery.

The Clinton Police Department also charged him with two counts of vehicular assault.

And the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department charged him with evading arrest, resisting arrest, and driving on a suspended license.

Arrest warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton said Welch allegedly carjacked one vehicle at Clinton Towers on North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard in downtown Clinton, tried to carjack a second vehicle several blocks south at Food City on South Charles G. Seivers Boulevard, and carjacked a third vehicle on Highland Drive next to Food City. [Read more…]

UT professor to discuss last year’s wildfires on April 13 in Oak Ridge

Posted at 4:05 pm April 2, 2017
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Henri Grissino-Mayer

A University of Tennessee professor will discuss the devastating wildfires in the Southeast in 2016 during a talk in Oak Ridge on April 13.

The featured speaker will be UT professor Henri Grissino-Mayer, a renowned expert on ecosystems, a press release said. He will address the devastating fires, their cause, and what the future may be, a press release said.

The talk is titled “The 2016 Wildfires in the Southeastern U.S.: What Comes Next after Gatlinburg?” It will be presented by the University of Tennessee Arboretum Society.

It’s scheduled from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 13, in the UT Arboretum Auditorium at 901 South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge.

Grissino-Mayer is a professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and director of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Science. [Read more…]

Clinton man sentenced to 30 years in death of mother fleeing dispute

Posted at 1:57 pm April 2, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Kieth William Pittman

CLINTON—A Clinton man was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Thursday for the 2014 stabbing death of a mother trying to flee a domestic dispute.

Kieth William Pittman, 28, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of second-degree murder and a second charge of tampering with evidence. He was sentenced to 25 years on the second-degree murder charge and five years on the tampering with evidence charge.

The sentences must be served consecutively, meaning Pittman has an effective 30-year sentence, Anderson County Criminal Court Judge Don Elledge said during a plea agreement hearing in Clinton on Thursday.

The victim, Heather McKamey, 22, was a mother of three boys. She and Pittman had two of the boys together.

McKamey was stabbed outside her apartment at 301 Park Avenue in north Clinton after an argument between her and Pittman became physical at about 2:25 a.m. Saturday, April 19, 2014, according to police reports and an affidavit filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton.

“While both the victim (McKamey) and suspect (Pittman) were in the driveway, the suspect stabbed the victim in the stomach with the knife he had taken from the kitchen,” according to the affidavit, filed by Clinton Police Department Detective Sergeant Russell Barker. “Witnesses advised the victim fled down Park Avenue to McAdoo Street yelling for help, and the suspect chased her.” [Read more…]

Andersonville man indicted on murder charge in death of girlfriend’s mother

Posted at 7:32 pm March 29, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

William James McMillan

An Andersonville man has been indicted on a second-degree murder charge in the death of his girlfriend’s mother at a home on Lone Mountain Road in Anderson County in 2015.

William James McMillan, 50, was indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury on March 7. He will be arraigned in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court in Clinton on Friday.

McMillan is accused of fatally shooting Karen Zahrobsky, who was 66.

Authorities said McMillan, Zahrobsky, and Zahrobsky’s daughter, Christina Dixon, who was then 45, all lived at 460 Lone Mountain Road in Andersonville, where the shooting allegedly occurred at about 4:45 a.m. Wednesday, June 10, 2015.

Zahrobsky was dead when deputies arrived. [Read more…]

Rocky Top man indicted on attempted murder charge

Posted at 6:40 pm March 29, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Steven Wayne Rice

A Rocky Top man was indicted on an attempted first-degree murder charge this month in a shooting that allegedly involved his wife.

Steven Wayne Rice, 38, has also been indicted on a charge of aggravated assault with a weapon.

Rice was indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury on March 7. He is scheduled to be arraigned in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court in Clinton on Friday.

He is accused of trying to kill Amy Rice, who is identified as his wife in earlier arrest warrants, on August 30, 2015.

Rice had initially been charged with attempted first-degree murder and reckless endangerment. Those charges were waived from Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge to the Anderson County Grand Jury on September 15, 2016.

Oak Ridge Today has previously reported that Rice had threatened Amy Rice with a pistol and fired it when three other people in the home tackled him and took away the gun. [Read more…]

Roane State paramedic alumnus honored

Posted at 6:16 pm March 28, 2017
By Owen Driskill Leave a Comment

Rick Valentine, left, a 1990 graduate of Roane State’s Paramedic Program and now director of the Sevier County Ambulance Service, along with Greg Miller, right, chief of the Gatlinburg Fire Department, were recently awarded the Tennessee Ambulance Service Association’s President’s Award. In middle is TASA President Andrew Reed. (Photo courtesy Roane State)

Rick Valentine, a 1990 graduate of Roane State Community College’s Paramedic Program, has been awarded the Tennessee Ambulance Service Association’s President’s Award for Leadership.

After serving as deputy director of the Sevier County Ambulance Service for many years, Valentine was named the service director last year.

In a Facebook post, Valentine said he was “surprised, honored, and humbled” to receive the award during the association’s annual conference in Gatlinburg in February. [Read more…]

Assault, endangerment charges related to heroin overdose waived to grand jury

Posted at 4:39 pm March 28, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Heather Marie Rau

Aggravated assault and reckless endangerment charges filed against an Oak Ridge woman after a heroin overdose in February were waived to the Anderson County Grand Jury on Tuesday.

Heather Marie Rau, 29, had a status hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge on Tuesday afternoon.

She is accused of providing heroin to a man who ended up unconscious on a hallway floor in a home on West Outer Drive at about 3 p.m. February 16. Rau told Oak Ridge Police Department Detective John R. Criswell that she warned the man, Wesley “Bud” Arnold, not to “shoot it,” or inject the heroin, because she knew what she had given him could possibly kill him, according to arrest warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge.

Warrants said the heroin had already killed one man and caused Rau to overdose. [Read more…]

Fireworks suspected, reward offered in wildfire in west Oak Ridge on Saturday

Posted at 9:52 am March 28, 2017
By John Huotari 3 Comments

The U.S. Department of Energy is offering a reward for a wildfire on federal property on Saturday afternoon, March 25, 2017, west of Wisconsin Avenue and south of Whippoorwill Drive. Fireworks are suspected as the cause. (Photo courtesy DOE/City of Oak Ridge)

The City of Oak Ridge is offering a $500 reward for information that helps resolve what happened in a wildfire on federal property in west Oak Ridge on Saturday afternoon, a press release said. Fireworks are suspected as the cause of the fire.

The brush fire was reported on U.S. Department of Energy land at about 12:27 p.m. Saturday, March 25, west of Wisconsin Avenue and south of Whippoorwill Drive. It was below, or to the south of, a water tower near Whippoorwill Drive. There are homes just to the north of the water tower, and there are homes east of Wisconsin Avenue.

When firefighters arrived Saturday afternoon, they could not locate a fire, but there was smoke in the area, DOE said in a press release Tuesday.

“While the engine was looking for the fire, a hiker came down the trail and reported the fire was located several hundred yards off the road in the woods,” the press release said. “Engine 1 crew began hiking toward the reported location and was able to find the fire. At that time, the fire was approximately five acres and growing.”

The Oak Ridge Fire Department immediately requested assistance from the Tennessee Division of Forestry to respond with bulldozers to cut fire lines around the fire. The battalion chief also requested representatives from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Division of Forestry, since the fire was burning on U.S. Department of Energy property. [Read more…]

Council to discuss General Sessions Court, legislative updates

Posted at 3:40 pm March 26, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge City Council is pictured above in December 2016. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

The Oak Ridge City Council is scheduled to discuss a project to relocate the Anderson County General Sessions Court from a private building on Bus Terminal Road to a county-owned building on Emory Valley Road during a work session on Monday evening.

Council is also scheduled to receive a legislative update and possibly discuss issues of interest to Oak Ridge, including bills related to the Industrial Development Board, school financing bills, and other bills of interest to cities.

The work session will follow a special meeting scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Monday, March 27, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom at 200 South Tulane Avenue. The one item on the special meeting agenda is a vote on whether to build the new preschool at Scarboro Park. [Read more…]

Roane State paramedic alumni promoted

Posted at 3:16 pm March 26, 2017
By Owen Driskill Leave a Comment

Nathan Sweet, left, director of the Anderson County EMS, and Danny McCreary, deputy director, are pictured with two other graduates of Roane State’s Paramedic Program who were recently promoted to assistant supervisors, Carrissa Keathley, left, and Misti Smiddy. (Submitted photo)

By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer

CLINTON—Graduates of Roane State Community College’s paramedic program continue to receive promotions within area emergency medical services agencies, said David S. Blevins.

Blevins, director of EMS Education in the Allied Health Sciences Division of Roane State, said two paramedics, Carrissa Keathley and Misti Smiddy, have been promoted to the rank of lieutenant within the Anderson County EMS operation.

“They are great paramedics and strong additions to the supervisory team of Anderson County EMS,” said Director Nathan Sweet, who is also a graduate of Roane State’s paramedic program. [Read more…]

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