Deputies release 911 tapes in deadly officer-involved shooting

GIBSON COUNTY, Tenn. — Gibson County deputies released new details Monday, months after an officer-involved shooting left a Trenton man dead. For the first time we hear the threats and 911 calls that led officers to believe their suspect was out to not only harm himself but anyone who stood in his way.

Just after 9 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 13, 2015, Michael Bartkiewicz began a threatening tirade against police.

“He was threatening to shoot some officers and asking the officers to come to his house, saying that if we don’t show up then he’s going to come to town and start looking for officers,” Sheriff Paul Thomas said.

Over the course of the night, Bartkiewicz would make a handful of 911 calls, each time with different threats.

“I’m looking for an officer to either come to my house and either shoot me or I’m going to shoot them,” Bartkiewicz said on the 911 tapes.

Just after the first call came in, deputies had already begun staging near Bartkiewicz’s home on Petty Lane near Trenton.

“I honestly felt like we could get up to the house and he would come out,” Sheriff Thomas said. “We would get him some help and move on.”

But as more calls kept coming in, deputies said Bartkiewicz became less and less cooperative.

“You’re going to bring more than just a few officers because I have some heavy weapons and it’s not going to be pretty,” Bartkiewicz said during one call.

Almost an hour and a half later, Sheriff Thomas said he and his deputies moved closer to the home, and what played out next lasted only seconds.

“It was just a second, two at the most,” Thomas said. “I heard someone shouting, ‘There he is. He’s got a gun.'”

Bartkiewicz, who was dressed in full camouflage, was running toward deputies with what looked like a gun.

“That split second, a million things went through my mind, and one thing was those two deputies have families,” Thomas said. “I have to do everything I can to protect them.”

Officers said Bartkiewicz was shot dead on the scene by Sheriff Thomas and three of his deputies.

“I don’t know what was going through his head,” Sheriff Thomas said. “I wish I got the chance to talk with him that night.”

It was later determined Bartkiewicz didn’t even have a real gun — a fact Sheriff Thomas said he and his three deputies will always have to live with.

“I’ve replayed it 1,000 times since that night,” Sheriff Thomas said. “I would give anything if it could have happened a different way.”

Last month, the TBI concluded its investigation into the shooting. After turning it over, the office of District Attorney Garry Brown found it was justified.

To hear the full 911 tapes for yourself, click here.