A district attorney in Tennessee is in serious trouble after facing criminal charges for allegedly trying to play hero during a police chase. The incident took a dangerous turn when he fired his gun at a pair of murder suspects fleeing from police, but instead of stopping them, he hit a house where a woman and her three children were inside.
Chris Stanford, the district attorney for Tennessee’s 31st Judicial District, was indicted on Monday for reckless endangerment and shooting into an occupied home. The shooting happened in Smithville, a small town about 70 miles from Nashville, back in November. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), which looked into the case, said the incident unfolded during an attempt to arrest three people wanted in connection with a triple homicide.
Law enforcement from Warren and DeKalb counties had teamed up that day to catch 28-year-old Caleb Dias Brookins, 21-year-old Hannah McKenzi Rose, and 28-year-old Jessica Root. The three were suspected of being involved in a triple murder in Warren County but were in DeKalb County when Stanford joined the chase.
Things got chaotic when Stanford and local deputies, along with a Homeland Security officer, pursued Rose and Brookins. According to authorities, Rose, who was driving, rammed her car into a sheriff’s department truck. During the chase, the Homeland Security officer was also hit by the suspects’ vehicle, leaving him with a leg injury. As the car sped into someone’s yard on Bell Street in Smithville, Stanford decided to open fire. But instead of stopping the suspects, he missed entirely, and some of his shots hit a nearby home where a mother and her three kids were inside.
Brookins was eventually caught by TBI agents later that day, while Rose was arrested at the scene. Jessica Root’s involvement wasn’t detailed in the reports.
The TBI confirmed that Stanford fired his gun multiple times during the chaos, hitting the house instead of the car. Fortunately, no one in the home was hurt, but the situation could have ended much worse.
On Monday, a special session of the DeKalb County Grand Jury handed down the indictment against Stanford. After turning himself in at the DeKalb County Jail, he was released on a $10,000 bond.
Photos from Stanford’s official social media pages show him training with local police and practicing at a shooting range, but this incident is raising serious questions about his judgment during such a tense situation.
For now, Stanford’s office has not released any statement about the charges. The case has left the community stunned and questioning whether the district attorney overstepped his boundaries by trying to enforce the law in such a dangerous and reckless way.
