LAKELAND, Tenn. (AP) - The Latest on the fatal shooting of a Tennessee woman by sheriff’s deputies (all times local):
8:15 p.m.
Authorities say two sheriff’s deputies fatally shot a woman who pointed what turned out to be a BB gun at them in a residential neighborhood in western Tennessee.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesman Josh DeVine said 59-year-old Nancy Jane Lewellyn died Friday after being shot by Shelby County Sheriff’s Office deputies in a subdivision in Lakeland, just east of Memphis.
DeVine says Lewellyn had called 911 Friday, making disturbing statements and threatening violence toward anyone who came to her house.
DeVine says three deputies responded, and Lewellyn exited her house when they arrived. He says she took out what appeared to be a real handgun and pointed it at the deputies. Two of them opened fire, killing her.
Devine says it was determined after the shooting that Lewellyn was holding a BB gun. He says the BB gun looked “an awful lot” like a real gun and “it was presumably very easy for these deputies to think that this was a more dangerous situation than a BB gun.”
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5:40 p.m.
Authorities say a woman shot by deputies in a residential neighborhood in western Tennessee has died.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesman Josh DeVine confirmed the woman’s death Friday in a post on Twitter but gave no other details.
Shelby County sheriff’s spokesman Earle Farrell said earlier that two deputies have been relieved with pay in connection with the shooting in Lakeland. Farrell did not identify the deputies.
Farrell declined further comment because the investigation has been turned over to the TBI.
DeVine said he would update the media later.
Deputies blocked a road leading to the house where the woman was shot in a subdivision in Lakeland, which is just east of Memphis. A TBI vehicle could be seen from the perimeter established by deputies.
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