The Latest on the shootings in Tennessee that left one dead and wounded three others, including a police officer (all times local):
7:30 p.m.
A neighbor of the black Army veteran accused of opening fire on a Tennessee highway said he will never believe the incident was motivated by racial tension over police violence.
Alan Lavasser, who is white, said 37-year-old Lakeem Keon Scott was always nice and friendly.
They’ve both lived on the third flood of an apartment building in Bristol, Tenn., for two years and developed a friendship. Lavasser said he would give Scott rides because he didn’t have a car, and Scott would stop by and bring them food.
Scott is accused of opening fire on a hotel, then spraying bullets at passing cars and police. A woman was killed and three others injured in what police say was violence inspired by his anger about high-profile police shootings of black men.
Lavasser said he never showed any signs of racial animosity and “would do anything for anybody.”
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6:30 p.m.
The man accused of killing one person and wounding three others in an attack in Tennessee had served in the military in the late 1990s.
Army spokeswoman Jennifer R. Johnson says in an email that Lakeem Keon Scott served in the Army from January 1998 to June 1999. His full service record was not immediately available, and the circumstances of his discharge were not immediately clear.
Investigators say Scott targeted police officers and others because he was troubled by incidents involving black people and law enforcement officers. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says Scott is black; the shooting victims are all white.
Meanwhile, relatives say they were shocked to learn of the shooting. A brother, Gerard Griffin, says he never saw any violence from Scott, calling him a “protector” of his siblings.
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2:50 p.m.
Authorities in Tennessee say a man who opened fire on a highway in Tennessee targeted police officers and others because he was troubled by incidents involving black people and law enforcement officers.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says in a news release that initial conversations with the suspect, identified as Lakeem Keon Scott revealed he was troubled by incidents across the U.S. The TBI says the suspect is black; the shooting victims are all white.
Investigators say Scott killed one person and wounded three others, including a police officer. Scott had two guns early Thursday morning when he shot at a motel in Bristol, Tennessee, and then shot indiscriminately at several passing cars. When he was confronted by police, he fired at the three officers who responded.
The suspect was shot by the officers and is being treated at a hospital. He has not yet been charged.
[Source:- New Zealand Herald]
