ATHENS, Tenn. — McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy said a man has been charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a 60-year-old woman Thursday night.
Authorities identified the victim as Kathleen McKee.
Her landlord, 77-year-old Charles Ward, has been charged with first-degree murder in her shooting death.
According to the sheriff, Ward got into an argument with the woman who was renting the home on County Road 652 near Athens.
When deputies arrived, the found the woman's body "with an evident gunshot wound.”
Deputies arrived just minutes after the initial call, but McKee had already been shot and killed by that point. Sheriff Guy said it's not clear if McKee was shot during the 911 call or after she hung up.
“It does bother you when you can't get there as quickly as you would like to even though you're getting there as quickly as you can, and then something happens and you it was just a few minute,” said Guy. “There's no winners in this. This gentleman may be looking at prison time. It's not good for anybody. It's not good for the community, not good for the neighborhood, not good for the people involved.”
Ward remains in custody at the McMinn County Jail under a $200,000 bond, charged with first-degree murder, and faces arraignment in McMinn Co Court.
McKee had been renting a home from Ward for the past year or so, but this isn't the first time the two have had an argument according to the sheriff.
Sheriff Guy says they had received several 911 calls leading up to Thursday's shooting.
“We've been up there for a couple of other issues; just disagreements between the two of them, allegations of theft between the two of them, so they had a little history,” Guy said.
