HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. - A portion of Vietnam Veterans Boulevard reopened nearly 12 hours after an alleged gunman was shot by a police officer and subsequently fell from an overpass overnight.
Josh DeVine, spokesman for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said the incident began around 2 a.m. Wednesday, after police began receiving 911 calls of a man who was standing on the ledge of the Indian Lake bridge.
A Hendersonville police officer responded and found a man, identified as 22-year-old Steven Dodd, who allegedly indicated that he had a gun in his pocket.
Additional backup was called and three more officers responded to the scene.
DeVine said at some point the conversation escalated, at which point Dodd told him he had a gun in his pocket. MPO Hunter Raymond fired one shot and struck Dodd in the leg.
He fell from the bridge and was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he later died. TBI officials said his weapon was recovered at the scene.
News Channel 5 talked with Dodd's father, Mike Dodd. He said Steven left home Tuesday night upset over an old girlfriend who he said cost him his job.
"And so that bothered him, and got on his nerves. So I know he just wanted to walk it off last night, said Dodd. "That was the best we could figure. He wanted to walk it off."
Dodd said Steven wasn't armed when he left home.
"No. We never have any guns We never had guns. The closest he'd ever come to that was years ago he started liking the little air soft things that 15 or 16 year olds used to like. That's the closest we've come to having guns and I can't even picture him having a gun," said Dodd
TBI investigators recovered a pellett gun at the scene.
The road was closed for a two-mile stretch between New Shackle Island Road and Saundersville Road in Hendersonville.
Both directions of traffic were diverted to alternate routes. The roadway was able to reopen at 11 a.m.
"Our folks are going to do their very best to get this road open as soon as possible," DeVine said Wednesday morning. "We understand it's rush hour right now, but we have a job to do, we have evidence to collect, we need to do our due diligence to make sure we have everything and anything that may be relevant to this ongoing investigation."
Agents with the TBI continue working to piece together exactly what happened. Following the investigation, DeVine said the findings will be turned over the District Attorney's Office.
Hendersonville police said MPO Raymond has been with the department since May 2008.
