East Ridge Police Chief J.R. Reed, second from left, talks to investigators on the scene of a police involved shooting on Prigmore Road early Friday evening.
UPDATED MONDAY: The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department officially released the name of the man shot and killed by an East Ridge police officer on Friday evening. As reported by East Ridge News Online on Friday, the victim is 54-year-old Todd P. Browning.
Matt Lea, the Public Information Officer with HCSD, said in an email that any questions regarding the status of the East Ridge Police Officer should be directed to the East Ridge Police Department.
Lea asked for patience from the community and the media as this incident is still considered an active investigation in its early stages.
A man on Prigmore Road was shot and killed early Friday evening by an East Ridge police officer after he approached the officer and menaced him.
According to several witnesses on the scene, the East Ridge officer, who has not been identified, was in front of the man’s house confronting him over an incident that happened before 6 p.m. at the Auto Zone on Ringgold Road. Hamilton County dispatch records showed the officer was dispatched to the Auto Zone on a “disorder with a weapon” call.
“The cop said if you come off the property I will shoot you,” said Ruth Wilhoite, who lives next door to the man who was shot, and said she witnessed the incident.
Wilhoite said the man, who was armed possibly with a knife and a tool used to turn off water at the meter, continued forward before the officer fired. Wilhoite identified the man as Todd Browning. Law enforcement officials have not confirmed the identity of the shooting victim.
Alec M. Long, who also lives on Prigmore Road, said the officer fired as many as four shots from what he called an AR-15.
“Me and the boys were bringing groceries into the house when we looked out and saw the cops,” Long said. “I looked out and the guy was coming toward the officer. “I told Joe that ‘he done shot that guy dead.'”
A man who refused to identify himself gave a different account of the incident. The man told East Ridge News Online that he stopped his truck behind the police officer’s car about 50 feet from the scene. The man said the victim ran from the side of his house stopped in his driveway and began banging what he called a PVC pipe onto the asphalt. The witness said the police officer shot the man as he stood in his driveway. The witness was adamant that the victim was standing still and not charging the officer when shots were fired.
Wilhoite said that the man who was shot was in his early 50s and that he had caused some minor trouble in the neighborhood. Police officers, she said, had been to the man’s house at 1702 Prigmore a number of times, but nothing that she termed as “serious.”
Wilhoite said that the man had gone to the Auto Zone on Ringgold Road to confront his daughter over an unknown issue. She said that the man had “gotten into it” with the cop at the store.
Matt Lea, a spokesman for the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department, confirmed that the victim of the shooting had died. He read a statement to the gathered media.
Lea said that an ERPD officer was called to the Auto Zone at about 6 p.m., on a person “wielding a weapon.” The suspect in the Auto Zone incident led police to 1702 Prigmore Road. Lea said that the suspect was shot by the officer after the suspect “refused to obey the officer’s commands.”
Lea said that investigators with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department will take the lead on the investigation.
East Ridge News Online will update this story as more information becomes available.
