SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. — A former EMT will potentially spend two decades in prison after she pleaded guilty to shooting and killing a woman at Soaky Mountain Waterpark in 2021.
Sarah Romine from Knoxville pleaded guilty in Sevier County Circuit Criminal Court to second-degree murder, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment on Jan. 9, 2024.
The shooting happened on July 31, 2021, at Soaky Mountain Waterpark in Sevierville. At the time, the Sevierville Police Department said it believed a fight broke out in the waterpark parking lot that evening, which then escalated into a shooting. Police said at the time Romine had been drinking before the fight began.
Arrest warrants said Romine shot at a vehicle that the victim, Kelsy Cook, and several others from Loudon were in. Cook was hit in the neck and was later pronounced dead after being airlifted to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, SPD said.
According to an incident report, Romine told officers that "she was sorry and that she had shot another female."
Several people got out of the vehicle and another one nearby to confront Romine after the shooting, according to the warrant, and police said Romine fired the gun several times as they tried to get the gun away from her. Another woman, Angie Lynn Russell, was shot in the leg during that struggle. SPD said she was taken to LeConte Medical Center and that her wounds did not appear to be life-threatening.
Romine was sentenced to serve 16 years in prison for the murder charge, four years for the assault charge and two years for the endangerment charge. The murder charge and assault charge will run concurrently and she is being ordered to serve 100% of her murder charge, meaning she will serve at least 16 years in prison and up to a total of 20 years if she doesn't receive parole. Records show she's been in jail since Aug. 2021, meaning she has already served close to two and a half years of her sentence.
Following the shooting and several other incidents involving alcohol, Soaky Mountain Waterpark suspended alcohol sales for a few months after the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission recommended suspending its license. The park said it would "expand and update" its alcohol policy to increase safety, and later resumed selling alcohol when it opened for the 2022 summer season. The park said it also agreed to hire extra off-duty Sevier County deputies to increase security.
