Official: Armed corrections officer fatally shot by police

Published 9:00 am Wednesday, February 19, 2020

GREENEVILLE (AP) — A corrections officer accused of targeting a woman he had been dating in a store parking lot was shot and killed by a police officer in Tennessee.

Travis Mullins, 29, was pronounced dead Monday evening outside a Lowe’s Home Improvement store in Greeneville, news outlets reported.

Greeneville police were called to the scene for a reported hit-and-run, said Leslie Earhart, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

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Mullins had left but returned to the scene armed with a gun. Officers disarmed Mullins and attempted to arrest him. He was somehow able to get another gun from his vehicle and point it at officers. A Greeneville officer then shot and killed Mullins.

Mullins was wearing a Cocke County Sheriff’s Office uniform at the time of his death. He was a corrections officer for the county but was off-duty at the time of the call.

Cocke County Sheriff Armando Fontes said in a statement that the fatal shooting was a “sad situation.”

No officers were injured. The TBI was investigating.