KNOXVILLE, Tenn — Four men will spend many years in prison after a court convicted them in the 2018 Halloween murder of a teen in South Knox County.
The Knox County Criminal Court sentenced two of the men, 28-year-old Bobby Hansard and 22-year-old Sean Longmire, to life in prison for murdering 19-year-old Bryson McGrotha in a shooting that took place on Halloween in 2018 at a home on Smith Lane, according to Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen's office. The court also convicted the men on three counts of attempted first-degree murder.
The two other men, 24-year-old Joseph Bellew and 23-year-old Eljah Dozard, pleaded guilty to facilitation of first-degree murder and aggravated assault. The court sentenced Bellew to 15 years in prison and Dozard to 18 years in prison for their role in McGrotha's murder.
According to Allen, the four men drove to the home on Smith Lane to confront a group of people after an argument that happened earlier in the day. When they arrived, Allen said Hansard and at least one of the other men pulled out handguns and started shooting at the group.
McGrotha died in the shooting. The gunfire hit another victim in the leg and nearly hit two other people.
The initial arrest reports from the Knox County Sheriff's Office showed a woman who lived at the home told deputies the men showed up in a car and started shooting at her son's friends, who were in a different car. The arrest report said Bellew told investigators he and Hansard went to a different home to conduct a $1,000 drug deal -- claiming they were robbed.
According to the arrest report, Bellew told deputies they went to a home on Smith Lane to tell them about the robbery as the person that robbed them was on the way to purchase heroin. Hansard began shooting and saw McGrotha fall to the ground as they fled, the report said.
Hansard and Longmire will serve at least 51 years in prison before they will be eligible for parole.