NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued a statewide Blue Alert on Tuesday morning for 34-year-old Samuel Edwards, who is wanted in Middle Tennessee for the attempted criminal homicide of a Hendersonville police officer and evading arrest.
Later on Tuesday, at around 9:20 p.m., they said Edwards was dead after a shooting with Kentucky State Police.
Hendersonville Police initiated a traffic stop just after 7:55 p.m. Monday on Vietnam Veterans Boulevard. Metro Nashville Police said a Hendersonville officer called in a tag number on a black van and it did not match. The officer then tried to stop the van. Shortly after beginning the pursuit, someone inside the van began shooting at the officer.
Police said Edwards abandoned his van on Gibson Drive in Madison and ran. He was believed to be armed with two guns.
The Hendersonville Police Department said the officer is "doing fine" and was not critically wounded in the shooting. Police said there was evidence of a bullet entering the officer’s car through the front windshield. Multiple agencies are in the area searching for Edwards.
Metro Police believed the suspect stole a pickup truck with the keys left inside near his last location. Officers found that truck Tuesday morning in Millersville but said Edwards has not been located.
What is a Blue Alert?
The TBI initially issued the Blue Alert Tuesday morning around 7 a.m., however, East Tennesseans received phone alerts about it just before 4:30 p.m. Tuesday evening without any details in the alert itself other than a link that redirected people to the agency's Twitter page. It is unclear why the emergency alert was sent to phones many hours after the initial alert had been issued, and the TBI's last update on the fugitive search was at 11:35 a.m.
Tennessee's Blue Alert system -- which was established in 2011 and runs through the same system used for AMBER Alerts -- has only been used a handful of times in the past few years. The purpose is to alert people across the state about fugitives who attacked and seriously hurt or killed a law enforcement officer in order to help authorities quickly arrest the suspect.
However, in the two times the state has issued a Blue Alert -- people criticized the alerts for being too vague or not knowing what a Blue Alert was. In the past, the TBI said the alert system was not administered by the TBI and was limited to 90 characters. The TBI said in 2018 that it was going to review its alert policies and work on the system to make them more comprehensive and informative.
In order for a Blue Alert to be issued, the TBI's website said all of the following things need to be met:
- A sworn law enforcement officer is killed, sustains life-threatening injuries or the officer is missing in the line of duty under circumstances warranting concern for the law enforcement officer’s safety and;
- The suspect(s) pose(s) an imminent threat to public safety and law enforcement personnel and;
- A description of the offender or vehicle is available for statewide broadcast to the public and law enforcement 911 centers.
- Prior to activation, if the suspect(s) is/are identified, the requesting agency will immediately: Place the suspect in the temporary felon file in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). Obtain felony warrants as soon as possible or within 24 hours and enter the offender into NCIC.
- The head of any Tennessee law enforcement agency, Colonel of the Highway Patrol, Chief, Sheriff or their designee of the investigating law enforcement agency of jurisdiction requests the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to activate the Blue Alert system.