KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — On Sunday, Oct. 1, Tucker Blakely with the Knox County Sheriff's Office responded to a domestic call in West Knox County. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said officers were looking for Matthew Logan Rose. He had been in an argument with his wife all evening, Sheriff Tom Spangler said.
"While they were looking for this individual in the house, Officer Blakely was struck by gunfire, and was immediately incapacitated," he said at Blakely's celebration of life on Friday.
Another officer returned fire, killing Rose, Spangler said.
Rose's wife said he faced demons. She said he suffered from PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder and Bipolar Disorder. In July the prosecutor in Genesee County, Michigan said Rose got into an argument with his wife. She, fearing for her own safety and her children's safety, locked Rose out of his parents' home.
"Matthew began banging on the doors and windows trying to get inside," Deputy Chief Assistant Prosecutor John Potbury said in an email to 10News. "He shot a handgun outside toward some trees near the house."
State Representative Sam McKenzie (D-Knoxville) said this case shows why he's in favor of "red flag laws," which would allow a judge to temporarily prevent a person from owning a weapon.
"He is a glaring example of a person that should not be carrying a weapon for a period of time," McKenzie said. "That deputy's life was lost unnecessarily, I believe."
State Senator Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville) said he favored a mental health extreme risk order of protection. It would allow a judge to temporarily prevent a person from owning a weapon, based on mental health concerns.
Governor Bill Lee floated a similar proposal after the Covenant School Shooting in Nashville earlier this year, but the proposal didn't have support from lawmakers in the General Assembly.
"This, to me, seems like it would have been a case where that law may have been applicable, where you have someone with a significant, severe mental illness," Briggs said. "There are some people that I think we should all agree, should not have weapons."
State Senator Becky Duncan Massey (R-Knoxville) said she does not support mental health orders of protection, because she doesn't think those proposals have enough due process. Massey, instead, pointed to the domestic violence orders of protection already on the books in Tennessee, as a potential solution.
"We've tried to strengthen the process as much as anything because the law was already in place," Massey said.
Tennessee's law allows a person to petition a court if they're under threat of domestic violence. The law prevents the threatening person from being near the person under threat, materials produced by state experts show. It also prevents the person with the order of protection from owning a weapon.
In his case in Michigan, Rose was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence, reckless use of a firearm and illegal entry, Potbury said. Court records show he pleaded guilty to only the misdemeanor firearms charge, not domestic violence.
Tucker Blakely died Monday, Oct. 2. He was 29 years old.
"We will not forget the sacrifice that Deputy Blakely made," Massey said.