Incident: Friday, August 28, 2026, about 7:45 p.m. Central, the 400 block of Spring Circle in the Lakewood community of Coffee County, Tennessee, near the Cannon County line. Reported by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Middle Tennessee outlets on Saturday, August 29.
Deputies with the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office were running routine patrols and warrant checks in the Lakewood community after complaints about criminal activity in the area, Sheriff Chad Partin said. They identified Eric Thurman, 43, as having an active warrant for a probation violation, according to Chief Deputy Frank Watkins.
Thurman was in a tent.
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When deputies approached, he came at a sergeant investigator with a machete and cut him across the chest and the hand. The left hand took the worst of it.
Another deputy fired. Thurman was hit. Deputies rendered first aid where he fell. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The sergeant investigator was taken to a local hospital for treatment of multiple cuts and is in stable condition. Sheriff Chad Partin confirmed the injuries. The sheriff’s office has not released his years of service. Two other deputies were on scene.
The machete was recovered. Nothing else has been released — no round count, no distance, no description of where the deputy who fired was standing when he fired.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting at the request of 14th Judicial District Attorney General Craig Northcott. That is the normal process in Tennessee: TBI agents do not decide whether a shooting was justified. They investigate and hand their findings to the district attorney, who does. The investigation is active and no finding has been announced.
TBI has not determined what led to the attack. The agency has not identified the deputies involved in the shooting.
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