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Cheatham County officials investigate mass murder threat





Cheatham county sheriff - ONLINE ONLY

Cheatham county sheriff – ONLINE ONLY

A mass murder threat against Cheatham County that originated in Dickson has been squashed, according to the Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office.

The Sheriff’s Office posted on its Facebook page on Friday, June 10 that a tip had come in from Dickson. Once the threat was deemed credible, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and other agencies were brought in to assist.

According to Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Lt. Kenneth Miller, Dickson City Police detectives contacted him with a message they received from a concerned citizen in which the subject said he was looking at firearms and wanting to commit the worst mass shooting of the decade for which everyone could remember him.

Law enforcement was able to attain the identity of the source of the threat through the telephone number from which the message originated.

The subject, whom the Sheriff’s Office hadn’t named as of press time, was apprehended along with another unnamed individual during a felony traffic stop on Highway 41A.

In questioning the subject, law enforcement determined there may be mental health issues and ordered a psychiatric evaluation, the results of which are still pending.

According to the Facebook post, no weapons were found in the vehicle, though weapons owned by the suspect were found at an unnamed location and confiscated pursuant to a search warrant. Miller noted the weapons found were not the type commonly found for the type of threatened event.

Miller said, “I do want to squash a rumor that somehow got started. At no time was there ever a direct threat to the CMA event nor was a specific target ever discussed.”

An email was sent to the TBI, and media contact Susan Niland did confirm the agency’s assistance with the case.

Dickson City Chief of Police Jeff Lewis said he was unable to comment on the case since it was still open and referred questions to District Attorney Ray Crouch. As of press time, Crouch had not responded to requests for information.

“We reacted with a sense of urgency as we have done in previous events and by using all of the resources available to us were able to locate and identify a suspect and thoroughly investigate the validity and capability of the threatened action by the suspect,” Miller said.

“At this time there are no other threats nor are there any other parties at large concerning this incident that we are aware of.”

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