One man is dead and another is injured after a standoff in Friendsville on Friday night, according to the Blount County Sheriff’s Office.
At around 8:15 p.m., deputies responded to a home on Quarry Hollow Road after hearing reports of a shooting at the home. When they arrived, Kyle Spitze and another person who lives at the home were standing outside.
Deputies treated Spitze for an ear injury while he told deputies that Jeffery Scott West, 68, and Spitze were arguing inside the home.
Spitze told police that West pulled out a gun and shot at Spitze, and the bullet grazed his ear. Spitze and the other witness said they ran outside to call 911 and West had run out the back door before the deputies arrived.
Spitze was transported to the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
BCSO’s Crisis Negotiations and SWAT teams arrived at the home and attempted to negotiate with West. Deputies also used “diversionary devices in an effort to get him to surrender,” BCSO officials said.
A K-9 officer was deployed shortly before 11 p.m. and discovered West dead inside the home from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
BCSO officials said no deputies or officers were injured in the incident.
“Sheriff Berrong would like to thank Maryville Police Department, Tennessee Highway Patrol Air Aviation Unit, AMR Ambulance Service, and Friendsville Volunteer Fire Department for their assistance during the incident,” BCSO officials said.
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