Blount County Sheriff's Office releases bodycam of a shootout that resulted in 2 deputies being shot

12 days ago
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The Blount County Sheriff's Office released body and dash camera video Wednesday from a police shooting that occurred earlier this month in Rockford.

Video from Blount County deputies Corbin Smith, 25, and Edward Walker, 28, shows a nearly 20-minute period from when they arrived at the 1100 block of Jacob Springs Boulevard on June 11 to when they received aid after being shot.

For much of that time, the men were pinned down by gunfire from suspect Ronald Reed Millsaps inside his home.

Both Smith and Walker are recovering from injuries to their legs.

Millsaps faces two counts of attempted criminal homicide, one count of aggravated kidnapping, one count of aggravated domestic assault, four counts of reckless endangerment and five counts of aggravated assault, all in connection to the shootings.

He's being held in jail in lieu of more than $2 million bond.

The video released by the BCSO is about 37 minutes long and contains recordings from Walker's body camera and vehicle dash camera, along with Smith's body camera.

When Walker's body camera video starts, he's pulling up to Millsaps' home on Jacob Springs Boulevard. A person can be heard telling Walker through his radio that Millsaps threatened that if law enforcement entered his home, they'd go out in a "blaze of glory."

Smith's body camera video starts with him standing near Millsaps' garage and shows him running behind Walker's cruiser.

Once the men are together, a barrage of gunfire erupts from the Millsaps home.

Walker's dash camera video shows that during this period, Millsaps fired repeatedly into the BCSO cruiser the men were standing behind, shattering the windshield.

Blount County Sheriff James Berrong said after the shooting that Millsaps fired between 100 and 300 shots during the attack.

A recording from Walker's body camera video shows him being shot in the leg about four minutes after he arrived at the scene.

Walker asks Smith to grab a tourniquet for him from his uniform, then hands Smith his rifle so he can apply it to his leg.

About three minutes later, Smith is shot in the leg. He's seen on his own body camera video taking an additional tourniquet from Walker's uniform and applying it to his own leg.

Both Walker and Smith are seen on the recordings bleeding heavily from their wounds.

"I'm losing my leg dude, I can't feel it," Walker said.

Several minutes after being shot, Walker and Smith were told by other law enforcement they could escape the scene.

Body camera video from both of the men shows them running across several yards, and even hopping a fence. They eventually meet up with other members of law enforcement who help them.

Immediately after the shooting, Sheriff Berrong told reporters that Millsaps had weapons everywhere in his home.

"We had information he had weapons in every area of the house and window sills and beside the doors," Berrong said. "He was ready for a battle, and that’s what he came to us with.”

Berrong said there is an older woman inside the home was believed to be a bedridden relative. Berrong also said BCSO had responded to the same home on multiple occasions. No one else was hurt in the home.

Deputies Smith and Walker are the third and fourth members of the Sheriff's Office who've been shot in the line of duty since February.

Police said deputies Greg McCowan and Shelby Eggers were shot during a traffic stop on Sevierville Road on Feb. 8.

McCowan succumbed to his injuries. Kenneth Wayne DeHart Jr. is facing several charges, including first-degree murder, connected to the shootings of McCowan and Eggers.

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