CROSSVILLE, Tenn. — UPDATE: Thursday, March 14, 2019
A Pikeville man who is accused of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder in Cumberland County has been appointed a public defender.
John Patrick Fields, 47, was booked into the Cumberland County Jail on a $5 million bond Wednesday in connection to this week's murders.
He was brought before a judge Thursday morning and appointed a public defender. A preliminary hearing was set for April 18, according to Cumberland County Sessions Court.
UPDATE ( 4:30 p.m.)
A Pikeville man has now been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder in Cumberland County.
John Patrick Fields, 47, was arrested at a home on Vandever Road where three people had been shot.
MaKayla Laray Manning, 23, was killed at that home. Joseph Manning, 39, and Eleashea Alene Curry, 42, both from Crossville, were wounded and taken to UT Medical Center for treatment.
Earlier in the evening, the body of Lowell “Chip” Simmons II, 47, of Crossville, was found in a trash pile in a vacant lot on Critter Creek Road.
An autopsy will determine the cause of death for both Simmons and Manning.
Fields was booked in the Cumberland County Jail on a $5 million bond. A court date has been set for March 18.
The Tennessee Department of Children's Services is also investigating the case, an agency spokesperson confirmed.
UPDATE ( 10:55 a.m.): The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has identified one of the two people found dead Tuesday in Cumberland County.
Makayla Manning, 23, was shot and killed by an unidentified suspect Tuesday around 10 p.m. in the 2500 block of Vandever Road in Crossville, a news release from TBI said. The shooting also injured a man and a woman who were both hospitalized in Knoxville.
Deputies from the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department arrested the suspect in Manning's killing at the Vandever Road location.
Authorities also believe he is responsible for another homicide that occurred in Crossville on Critter Creek Road earlier Tuesday around 6 p.m.
A citizen had called 911 after finding a body outside of a home on the road, and authorities found the male victim dead from an apparent homicide, the release said.
The suspect is currently being held for questioning, TBI said in the release.
Autopsies on both of the bodies will be performed in Nashville.
UPDATE (9:45 a.m.): Investigators are working to determine what happened after two bodies were discovered at two separate crimes scenes Tuesday night in Cumberland County.
Just before 6 p.m. on March 12, a witness called 911 after spotting a body in a trash pile on a vacant lot on Critter Creek Road, according to a release from the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department.
A few hours later, at 10:30 p.m., deputies were called to investigate a shooting in the 2500 block of Vandever Road. When they arrived, they discovered multiple victims had been shot. One person was killed and two people were wounded.
No names of the victims have been released.
The TBI is working with the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office on the investigation.
This story will be updated as we gather more information.
Original story (8:13 a.m.)
Two people were killed and two more were injured in shooting incidents Wednesday in Cumberland County, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesman Josh DeVine said.
DeVine said in an email TBI had agents "responding to two locations in Cumberland County to investigate shooting incidents in which a total of two people have died and two more have been injured."
One of those locations was on Vandever Road near Ted Davis Road south of Crossville, county EMS officials said.
The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation are investigating the shooting, according to county EMS officials.
10News has a crew on the way to the scene and will continue to update this story as we receive more information.