KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — An Alcoa man is behind bars after Knoxville police said he kidnapped two woman at gunpoint, pistol-whipped one, and threatened to kill them over the weekend.
According to the Knoxville Police Department, 18-year-old Bryar Hill was in a vehicle with the two female victims, ages 24 and 22, and a male witness on Saturday, October 30 around 3 a.m. The four had all agreed to meet up at The Half Barrel on Cumberland Avenue for a night of drinking, KPD said.
One woman was driving and the other woman was in the front seat. KPD said the four were driving to another location when Hill reportedly "snapped" and became aggressive in the back seat.
KPD said Hill pulled out a handgun when the vehicle got onto the ramp to Alcoa Highway North from Kingston Pike. Hill then pointed the gun at the occupants and demanded the driver to take him where he wanted to go or he would "blow your brains out," the police report said.
According to police, Hill then pistol-whipped one woman as she was driving the vehicle, and told the people inside the vehicle not to call the police or he would kill them. He also demanded the occupants to give him their cell phones and fired a shot at the driver's side rear window, shattering the glass.
KPD said one victim left her seat out of fear for her life and curled up in the floorboard, where she called 911.
KPD said the victim was unable to speak to the operator, but 911 operators were able to listen in to direct officers to locate the vehicle at Western Avenue and University Avenue around 3:25 a.m.
Officers stopped the vehicle and took the suspect into custody without further incident, and said he later confessed to the allegations and was charged with two counts of aggravated kidnapping.
“I am thankful for the 911 dispatchers and our officers for their collective efforts to intervene in this situation with the very limited information that they had at hand,” Chief of Police Eve Thomas said. “There is no doubt that those efforts brought this incident to the most successful outcome possible and likely prevented a much greater tragedy.”