Loudon deputies kill suspect while serving arrest warrant
LENOIR CITY, Tenn. (AP) – Loudon County deputies have killed a suspect while serving a warrant in what the district attorney general says may have been “suicide by cop.”
According to a news release from District Attorney General Russell Johnson, two deputies entered the home of Thongsavanh Vandarack at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday to arrest him on a statutory rape charge.
Vandarack had his hands in his pockets, and when they ordered him to remove them he brought up what appeared to be a handgun. Both investigators opened fire.
Vandarack was struck multiple times. He was pronounced dead at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
He had previously served 17 years in a Wisconsin prison for crimes including attempted homicide.
Johnson says Vandarack’s girlfriend told investigators he did not want to go back to prison.
