A Blount County (Tennessee) Sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed and another deputy was wounded Thursday night during a traffic stop in Maryville.
Deputy Greg McCowan and Deputy Shelby Eggers stopped an SUV reportedly driven by Kenneth Wayne DeHart at 8:30 p.m. According to a release from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said. The driver, identified as DeHart, would not cooperate and refused to get out of the vehicle. A Taser was deployed with no effect, the release said.
At some point during the encounter, DeHart produced a gun and fired shots, striking both deputies. McCowan was fatally wounded; Eggers was shot in the leg and returned fire, Blount County Sheriff James Lee Berrong said in an early-morning press conference on Feb. 9.
McCowan died at a local hospital. Eggers was treated and released, Knox News reports.
DeHart, 42, is now the subject of a manhunt and a statewide Blue Alert. About $80,000 in reward money has been offered for information leading to his arrest.