Family seeks answers after relative fatally shot
HENDERSON, Tenn.—A Chester county family is left with many unanswered questions after their relative was fatally shot during an arrest operation by FBI agents.
Thursday morning an arrest warrant by FBI agents ended in the fatal shooting of a Chester county man named Theodore Deschler. The family says the FBI refuses to tell them why they conducted the arrest warrant and why they shot him, leaving the family searching the house for clues as to what happened to their relative. We visited the residence and the family showed us around the property so we could better understand what happened. At the property, the family showed us where the agents broke multiple windows of the property.
“There’s three up front and two on the sides they broke out…they were shooting flash…smoke grenades,” said Russell Deschler, Brother of the Suspect.
They used flashbangs, destroyed the yard with trucks, shot through a refrigerator, broke tree limbs, and even knocked down a light over the garage because it was suspected to be a camera.
“We believe they broke the windows of the garage so they could shoot. Because if you look, that chair they moved from back there and they were standing on the chair when they shot,” Deschler said.
According to the suspect’s mother who chose not to appear on camera, she was at the residence at the time. According to her, the FBI beat on the door and when she answered they pulled her out of the residence and put her in the back of a police vehicle. When she asked why they were there she was told, “It’s none of your business” by the agents. She told us the entire incident was probably 15 minutes from the time the agents arrived to when her son was shot.
“It was a senseless act. You know Teddy was a 100% disabled veteran. He had problems. He had severe PTSD. He had depression but he was getting help for it but this was senseless. He didn’t have a weapon on him. He was just trying to get out of the house because it was filled with tear gas,” Deschler said.
The family believes that Theodore was unarmed. They believe from the location of where the FBI agent took the shot through the garage window, you couldn’t see into the kitchen. The garage was full of old furniture, an old fridge, plus a door in the garage that Theodore was standing behind.
“You couldn’t see. The height of the door and where Teddy was standing when they shot him and killed him, you couldn’t see if he was armed or not and you know he wasn’t. Because if you look at the door you could see where his hands were full of blood and went down the door. Well if he had a weapon in his hand…,” Deschler said.
The FBI has not confirmed any of the details of the arrest or what took place during the arrest. While the house is ruined by tear gas, flashbangs, bullet holes, and broken windows, the family says they just want answers from the FBI as to why this happened.
“They said it’s an ongoing investigation but they won’t say anything to us,” Deschler said.
The family did say that they will be looking to file a civil suit against the FBI concerning this incident.
The FBI did give us a comment about the arrest operation Thursday morning shortly after the incident occurred confirming it happened, that they take agent involved shootings seriously, and that it is under review by the FBI’s inspection division.
They refused to give us any further comments.
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