BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. — A preliminary hearing for Ronald Millsaps began Tuesday. He is accused of shooting at two Blount County deputies in June, wounding them. Both recovered from their wounds and Millsaps, 60, is facing charges connected to events police say happened on the 1100 block of Jacob Springs Boulevard in Rockford on June 11.
Police said he's accused of shooting Blount County deputies Corbin Smith, 25, and Edward Walker, 28, during a domestic dispute. Both Walker and Smith survived their wounds and testified during the hearing.
Numerous law enforcement officers, neighbors and family members of the suspect were called to testify about what they saw happen that day.
Both Walker and Smith were emotional when asked by Blount County Attorney General Ryan Desmond about what went through their heads during the more than 10 minutes police said Millsaps shot at police.
"I felt helpless. I was scared, probably the scaredest I have ever been in my life," Smith said. "The only thing I could think of was my family and going home to my 1-year-old daughter."
Walker also said he thought of his loved ones during the barrage of gunfire.
"My initial thought was my wife, and then our baby girl, that we had just had three weeks prior," Walker said. "And my parents. I thought about my wife, 'Is she going to move on? Am I going to be forgotten? Who's going to raise my daughter?' My daughter just started out, and she is already going to be behind the eight ball. Not because of my actions, but because of someone else who couldn't answer the door civilly."
Blount County Sheriff James Berrong said initially at least 100 rounds were fired in the shooting. A TBI agent testified Tuesday and said officers found more than 220 spent shells.
According to the TBI, officers found two semi-automatic pistols, a 12-gauge shotgun and an AR-15-style rifle in the house.
The agent also said Millsaps' blood alcohol concentration was more than the legal driving limit hours after the shooting happened. Family members of Millsaps also testified and said they believed he had been drinking alcohol before the shooting.
Judge Brewer bound the case over to a Blount County grand jury after the hearing.
In June, the Blount County Sheriff's Office said they were called to Millsaps' home for a domestic dispute, and after they arrived he was noncompliant which resulted in shots being fired. Berrong told media in June that the deputies lost sight of Millsaps in the garage of that home and when Millsaps saw the deputies later, he started to shoot at them.
"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 the deputies went behind their vehicles and returned fire, and Millsaps went back into the home. He said both deputies put on their own tourniquets after suffering wounds.
"Deputies were able to rescue Deputy Smith and Deputy Walker while taking gunfire from the suspect,” Berrong said.
Berrong said there was a woman in the home at the time of the shooting who 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.
Testimony from one of Millsaps' loved ones during the hearing revealed the bedridden relative died shortly after the incident at the home.
Smith and Walker are the third and fourth members of the Blount County 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.