The Anderson County Sheriff has now released the names of the two deputies involved in a fatal double shooting earlier this year.
On February 29, the two deputies were involved in the chase of a stolen vehicle that had driven away without paying for gas that morning. The chase ended in a shootout that left two suspects from Indiana dead. Shanna Richardson, 25, and Michael Baker, 32, both of Linton, Ind., were shot and killed in the incident. Sheriff Paul While said Monday that the two officers involved are now back on full duty.
Deputy Jonathan Bryant was the officer that began the chase of the stolen truck. He has been with the Anderson County Sheriff's Department since May of 2009. Prior to that he was a reserve deputy and corrections officer with the Loudon County Sheriff's Department from March 2005 until he attended the law enforcement academy in 2009.
Corporal J.D. Powell was off-duty when the incident began, but responded to back-up Deputy Bryant. Powell is a 22 year law enforcement veteran who has worked with the Morgan County Sheriff's Department and the Oliver Springs Police Department along with the Anderson County Sheriff's Department since beginning his career in 1990. At the time of the shooting, Powell was assigned to the Criminal Investigations Unit as an investigator. He had applied for a corporal's position and the promotional process was on-going. After his return to work, the promotional process continued. After a review of all candidates, Powell was selected for the position, was promoted to corporal, and is now a patrol supervisor. Other than interrupting the process, the promotion was unrelated to the shooting incident.
Both Deputy Bryant and Corporal Powell received several critical incident stress debriefings after the shooting incident. They returned to duty on April 9 and worked a brief period at the office, then rode with other deputies, and have now returned to full duty.
Sheriff White said, "Since the shooting most likely will be the most traumatic event they will ever experience as a law enforcement officer, we wanted to ensure they were ready to return to their day-to-day duties."
The shooting continues to be reviewed by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.