Tennessee Shooting Kills Three, 19-Year-Old Robert Denton’s Motive Questioned


A Tennessee shooting has left three family members dead, and one girl was injured during the massacre. Other children witnessed how 19-year-old Robert Denton shot the man and two women, and neighbors are questioning what the motive could potentially be.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, Texas deputy Darren Goforth was said to have been pumping gas when a man walked up and shot him in the back. The motive of the shooter is unknown, but the local Sheriff’s office has linked the crime to the Black Lives Matter movement.

In regards to the latest incident, neighbor Johnny Philips was roused from his sleep by the Tennessee shooting. Due to hunting, the sound of gunshots is not unusual, but he did not realize that something terrible had happened until emergency response vehicles started filling the rural road.

“I guess it was the gunshots that startled me — kind of woke me up. I came out here, didn’t hear anything and went back in. Then I started hearing all these cars going up and down the road at fast speeds, which is not normal out here,” Phillips said, according to the Bristol Herald Courier. “I didn’t know what was going on but I asked a neighbor across the road and he told me.”

Sheriff Wayne Anderson says the shooter parked his vehicle nearby, walked up a steep hill, and opened fire at the house with a long gun.

“From what I’ve seen and heard, he just took ’em by surprise,” Anderson said. “It just all happened real fast. It’s the most horrific thing I think I’ve seen.”

Another neighbor, Darrell Grey, described what he heard.

“Everything happened so fast,” he said, according to the Tennessean. “It was just a barrage of ‘pow, pow, pow.'”

Grey knew this was not a hunter “because it was too many shots together.”

Alleged shooter Robert Denton was witnessed by six children. One child suffered a non-life threatening injury.

“There might be some shrapnel or something else that entered her leg as a result of the shooting,” Sheriff Anderson said. “He didn’t turn the gun on her. Something ricocheted or a fragment went into her leg.”

One man was shot on the front porch while two women were found dead in the kitchen. When Denton tried to make his getaway, another relative caught up with him.

“Somehow this other family member got down to the bottom (of the driveway) and shot him in the car while the guy was driving away,” Anderson said.

After the Tennessee shooting spree was over, Robert Denton drove a short distance and stopped to ask someone to call 911 for his injuries. Denton was arrested only a half mile from the family home. Denton was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated assault, and felony reckless endangerment.

Authorities are still trying to determine the motive for the Tennessee shooting. Neighbor Roger Hayden is uncertain what it could be.

“It just don’t make sense,” Hayden said. “It’s a sad day. I’ve lived here 26 years and never expected to see nothing like this.”

[Image via WCYB]

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