Authorities searched Friday for one of two brothers accused of fatally shooting a sheriff’s deputy and a friend who was riding with him on patrol.
Deputy Bill Jones and his friend, Mike Brown, were found dead Thursday night along state Highway 58 in eastern Tennessee, Roane County Sheriff David Haggard said.
“It appears that they drove right into an ambush,” Haggard said.
The attack took place near the home of one of the two suspects, Rocky Houston, 46, who was at a Knoxville hospital Thursday night with two superficial wounds. Authorities were still searching for his 47-year-old brother, Leon Houston.
Both brothers had outstanding warrants for various offenses, authorities said, including threats against forest service officials who were on their property to fight a fire. Both men had revoked gun permits.
It was not clear if Jones, 53, was attempting to serve outstanding warrants to Rocky Houston when the attack took place, Haggard said.
Kingston, about 35 miles west of Knoxville, was the site of another deadly attack on law enforcement.
George Hyatte, 34, escaped Aug. 9 as two guards led him to a van for a return trip to Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex after a hearing at the county courthouse.
Jennifer Hyatte, 31, a former prison nurse who met and married Hyatte behind bars, is charged with ambushing the guards, killing one and wounding the other. The couple was captured 36 hours later at a motel in Columbus, Ohio, and face trial on murder charges later this year.
