Fatal shooting followed home invasion
Mar. 24—At 10:39 a.m. Friday, Jacob Conrad Lewis, 24, of Grouse Court in Fairfield Glade, posted on his social media site details of a home invasion at his mother's home the night before.
Less than an hour later in the same house, Lewis was dead, lying face down in the kitchen, from a gunshot wound.
Tony Charles Davenport, 57, King Arthur Court, Fairfield Glade, is charged with first-degree murder, two counts of felony aggravated assault and felon in possession of a firearm.
Thursday Davenport made a brief appearance in Cumberland County General Sessions Court and told special Judge Howard Upchurch he did not have an attorney.
Upchurch asked Davenport if he had plans to hire his own counsel.
Davenport replied, "I'm going to try."
Upchurch then appointed the Public Defender's Office to represent Davenport until he hires an attorney. A preliminary hearing has been set for May 15. A judge had yet to be determined at press time.
Upchurch said he was not going to address the issue of bond. Davenport is currently being held under $2,520,000 bond.
In a Facebook post, written on Lewis' personal site, the following was written:
"A man kicked in my moms door with a rifle pointed at my mom and step dad, when I was in the
other room shot my moms wall.
"He then jumped on top of my stepdad with the gun around His throat. I threw the man off of him and beat in his left eye to where he was dilusssional. The man was twice my size and I feared that if I didn't take a chance he would kill my mom.
"I have never experienced anything like that. Whats worst I let him leave because I bout killed him and told him to leave. So my stepdad told him to stay where hes at outside. At this time they both our across my moms drive way talking trying to reason with each other.
"He begged my stepdad not to call the cops. And I turn around to check on my mom for a second, this dude jumps my stepdad with his pitbull. Now there is a man hunt for him. I told the cops its hard to find him because I busted his eye and face all to hell what a crazy night. I wish I was full of (expletive) but I am not."
Funeral services for Lewis were held Thursday morning at Bilbrey Funeral Home with burial in Haley's Grove Cemetery.
He is survived by his parents, and several brothers and sisters.
The Chronicle has also learned of the identity of the two people who were critically wounded in the attack.
Both were treated at the scene by bystanders, Fairfield Glade Police and Cumberland County Emergency Medical Services personnel.
They were later transferred from Cumberland Medical Center to The University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville where they both underwent surgery.
As of today, their conditions were not available, but it is believed both are recovering.
According to Fairfield Glade Police Officer Joseph Nash's report, he arrived on the scene to find Corey James Hillsman, 55, of Grouse Court, lying in the front yard with a severe gunshot wound to the arm.
Hillsman was being treated by a neighbor and two unidentified others who were applying direct pressure to Hillsman's wound.
Fairfield Glade Police Officer Fatima Pena arrived on the scene and assisted those helping Hillsman.
Inside the residence, Nash wrote he found a bloody scene and lying just inside the entrance to the house found Florence Audrey Easterly, 50, of the Grouse Court address, suffering from gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen.
A resident of the address was attending to her wounds, according to the report.
Lewis' body was found on the kitchen floor where his brother was standing. The brother told the officer Lewis was dead.
Ambulance personnel arrived on the scene and took over treatment of the injured.
A request for medical helicopters to fly the survivors to a regional trauma center was declined because of storms in the area.
Several bullet holes were found in the front door. A neighbor told officers that he saw a man driving a white Cherokee Jeep flee the area but did not know the man's identity.
Fairfield Glade Police Officer Stephanie Pencka was called into duty and told Nash she recognized the vehicle description as fitting a vehicle she had seen previously parked at a residence on King Arthur Court.
Cumberland County sheriff's investigators and deputies, along with the Crossville/Cumberland County SWAT team, converged on the King Arthur Court residence.
After contacting the suspect and negotiating with him, the suspect surrendered to officers.
It is not known if the suspect made a statement to investigators, including TBI special agents, but he was later identified as Davenport.
Around 10 p.m. Friday, he was charged with the four felonies in warrants signed by TBI Special Agent Shawn Scott.
One of those charges — felon in possession of a weapon — refers to Davenport's Nov. 8, 2004, guilty plea to felony aggravated assault in the beating death of John Everett Roberts at the Brentwood Apts. off Sparta Dr. on July 10, 2003.
Davenport and a co-defendant were indicted by the Cumberland County Grand Jury on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated assault and four counts each of assault.
The co-defendant pleaded guilty to the homicide and Davenport pled guilty to participating in the aggravated assault.
Davenport received a six-year prison sentence in that case. The six years was suspended to six months to serve in jail and the balance to be served on supervised probation.
Michael Moser may be reached at mmoser@crossville-chronicle.com
