In an update to a story that Thunder Radio brought you in November of this year, District Attorney General of the 31st Judicial District, Chris Stanford has been indicted in connection with firing his service weapon. Read the original story by clicking the link below:
According to WJLE Radio, the DeKalb County Grand Jury met today (Monday) in a special session and returned a sealed indictment against Christopher Robert Stanford of McMinnville, the District Attorney General of the 31st Judicial District, charging him with reckless endangerment and discharging a firearm into an occupied habitation stemming from a shots fired incident near Bell Street Apartments in Smithville during the apprehension of three suspects in a Warren County triple homicide last month.
Stanford, age 43, turned himself in this morning (Monday) and has posted a $10,000 bond. He will make an appearance in DeKalb County General Sessions Court on January 7.
Sheriff Patrick Ray said the investigation of Stanford was conducted by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at the request of Bryant Dunaway, District Attorney General of the 13th Judicial District who serves DeKalb County.
The shots fired incident occurred during the apprehension of 28-year-old Caleb Dias Brookins and Jessica Root, wanted by the Warren County Sheriff’s Department as suspects in the triple murder, and 21-year-old Hannah McKenzi Rose of Hickory Hollow Terrace in Antioch, Tennessee. Rose was charged locally by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department with aggravated assault on a first responder and evading arrest in a motor vehicle.
Stanford, who was on the scene, released a statement to Thunder Radio News that “immediately after witnessing a homeland security agent hit by a vehicle, the vehicle then drove toward me and others, accelerating quickly. I fired my service weapon in self defense of myself and others at the scene. Based upon my training and circumstances that presented themselves, I believe my actions were necessary and justified.”
During the episode, Sheriff Ray said a Homeland Security agent from Warren County sustained a leg injury after being struck by a vehicle trying to make a getaway being driven Rose with Brookins as her passenger. Before that, Rose rammed a DeKalb Sheriff’s Department truck operated by Chief Deputy Brian Williams with Detective Stephen Barrett as a passenger, but they were not injured. Although no one else was hurt, Sheriff Ray said Stanford, the Warren County District Attorney fired shots on Rose’s vehicle. Neither the vehicle nor the suspects were hit by the gunfire. Brookins fled on foot but was taken into custody a couple of hours later without incident by TBI. Brookins was found near Bell Street on Wade Street walking down the road. He was unarmed.
According to Sheriff Ray, one of the suspects (Root) had lived near the scene at one time and she has family nearby.
Thunder Radio News has reached out to Stanford for a statement.
