The suspect at the center of a West Knox County shootout Thursday already was a wanted man before he was spotted by a patrolling sheriff's deputy and then killed hours later in a gunfight with a SWAT team inside a mobile home.
Authorities declined to identify the man Thursday, although he already had several outstanding warrants for aggravated assault and other charges, said Martha Dooley, Knox County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.
"There had been an earlier incident today where he had been recognized – we were looking for him," Dooley said. "That's why the officer was able to recognize him."
The shootout was reported about 4 p.m. at a residence on a back lot in the Concord Mobile Home Park, 843 Canton Hollow Road.
An unidentified member of the Sheriff's Office SWAT team suffered a gunshot wound to one of his legs during the exchange of gunfire. He was transported by ambulance with an escort of several police cruisers to the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
The deputy was reported to be out of surgery shortly after midnight, according to Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Hillary Coward, although his present condition was unknown.
In an earlier statement, Knox County Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones said the deputy was in stable condition.
Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch spoke at a community meeting Thursday night after visiting the deputy in the hospital.
"The round may have caught an artery," Rausch said. "He was alert, gave a thumbs-up."
Dooley said the suspect was spotted standing near the entrance to the mobile home park and fled on foot when the deputy approached. K-9 units and a helicopter began searching for him in the nearby woods, when deputies spotted the suspect in a mobile home at the back of the park.
"He had barricaded himself into a back bedroom," Dooley said. "And he told the officer that he had guns, that he had at least two guns. He was threatening to commit suicide. He was also threatening to shoot the officer."
The SWAT team and crisis negotiators responded, she said, and the suspect again threatened to shoot himself and officers.
"During the negotiation, he did point a gun at our officers through the door and shot," Dooley said. "Gunfire was exchanged and the suspect was killed. Our officers shot through the door."
Dooley wasn't certain exactly how long the negotiations lasted. One resident in the mobile home park, who asked not to be identified, said authorities attempted to talk to the man through the closed door for about an hour before the gunfire erupted. The resident said he also witnessed authorities pull the homeowner outside before the SWAT team's arrival.
Dooley said the suspect did not live at the address, although investigators still were working to determine his relationship to the person who lives there.
She also confirmed that no one else was inside during the standoff or shooting, and no one was taken into custody following the episode, she said.
Authorities were called to the same mobile home park in late May when two teenage brothers there claimed to have been repeatedly abused by their stepmother.