Investigation Of Shooting Could Take Over A Week



The investigation into an officer-involved shooting which left a Cannon County man dead Monday night could take a week or more.

The investigation of the incident is being conducted by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Assistant District Attorney Trevor Lynch said late Tuesday afternoon that an investigation of this nature typically takes seven days, if not longer.

The victim of the shooting by two Cannon County Sheriff's deputies is Richard Butcher, 28, of 2044 Petty Gap Road, Woodbury.

The Cannon Courier has learned the names of the two deputies but has decided to withhold that information until the investigation is further along.

Butcher alledgedly tried to run over the two deputies with his pickup truck.

The incident reportedly occurred about 10:30 p.m.

Sheriff Darrell Young said this morning that the TBI is investigating the shooting and that details of the incident would not be released until the TBI has completed its work.

Butcher was due to appear in Cannon County General Sessions Court this morning for a Domestic Assault charge. His mother, Luanne Rains, was also scheduled to appear on an Assault charge.

According to the TBI, the deputies were in the area responding to a report of stolen scrap metal.  The suspect was supposed to have been in a black pickup.  When the deputies saw Butcher driving "crazy" in his yard in a black truck, they stopped, said TBI spokesperson Kristin Helm.  

Neighbors in the 2000 block of Petty Gap Road called police around 10:15 p.m. to report the man was in a black pickup truck doing doughnuts in the front yard of a residence.

The deputies approached the man and he tried to run them over with his truck, forcing them to open fire.

The suspect was hit by the gunfire and transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville where he later died.

Neither deputy was injured.

The TBI will turn over its findings to the district attorney general for further review.

"How many shots were fired, how many times he was hit, that is going to be under investigation until everything is completed and we get all the evidence through the crime lab," says Helm.

Check back to CannonCourier.com for details this week as they develop.