Left: District Attorney Christopher Robert Stanford (31st Judicial District/Facebook). Center: Christopher Stanford’s mug shot (DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office). Right: DA Christopher Stanton shooting guns with local police (31st Judicial District/Facebook).
A district attorney in Tennessee is facing criminal charges for allegedly taking the law into his own hands — opening fire on wanted murder suspects as they fled from police — and accidentally striking a house with a woman and her three kids inside, according to local officials.
Chris Stanford, district attorney of Tennessee’s 31st Judicial District, was indicted Monday on charges of reckless endangerment and discharging a firearm into an occupied habitation for the November shooting in Smithville, which is about 70 miles east of Nashville. The incident occurred while authorities were attempting to arrest three suspects allegedly connected to a triple homicide, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which was responsible for probing what happened.
The Warren and DeKalb County Sheriff’s Departments were working together to catch 28-year-old Caleb Dias Brookins, 21-year-old Hannah McKenzi Rose and 28-year-old Jessica Root that day. The trio was suspected to be involved in a triple murder in Warren County but were in DeKalb County when Stanford linked up with police to try and catch them.
Sanford, 43, of McMinnville, was allegedly pursuing suspects Rose and Brookins with local deputies and a Homeland Security officer, who also joined in on the manhunt for unknown reasons and got hit by a car that Rose and Brookins were driving — causing him to suffer a leg injury — when the illegal shooting occurred, according to police officials.
“The female driving the car [Rose] rammed a DeKalb Sheriff’s Department truck,” said DeKalb County Sheriff Patrick Ray in a statement to the Smithville Review newspaper. “They were trying to get away and ran up into a yard at a residence on Bell Street. It was at this time that District Attorney Stanford, who was on site, opened fire … but failed to hit the vehicle or the suspects.”
Brookins was caught by TBI agents hours later, while Rose was arrested at the scene.
“On Nov. 21, agents began investigating the incident involving 31st Judicial District Attorney General Christopher Robert Stanford,” TBI officials said Monday in a statement after Stanford’s indictment was handed down. “The investigation revealed that, during the pursuit of a wanted fugitive, Stanford fired a gun several times on Bell Street in Smithville, striking a home occupied by a woman and her three children.”
Stanford’s charges were brought during a special session of the DeKalb County Grand Jury on Monday through a sealed indictment, according to the Smithville Review.
He surrendered to police at the DeKalb County Jail and was released after posting a $10,000 bond.
Photos posted on the DA’s official Facebook page show Stanford training with local police and firing guns at a shooting range.
His office said it was taking messages Tuesday when reached by Law&Crime, and was unable to provide a statement.
