Max Carpenter Shooting
The Max Carpenter Shooting refers to the officer-involved shooting of Capital Hill resident Max E. Carpenter following an all-night gun battle involving deputies from the Scott County Sheriff’s Department and other jurisdictions in January 1994.
Carpenter was killed on the tracks of the Tennessee Railroad near his home after he reportedly refused to surrender to law enforcement officers the morning after the shootout.
Although there were no allegations of wrongdoing lodged against the Scott County Sheriff’s Department, the shooting was believed to have played a key role in the August 1994 sheriff’s election, which saw Jim Carson narrowly defeat long-time incumbent Jack Laxton.
Max Carpenter
Max E. Carpenter was a 34-year-old electrician who was born in California and graduated from Knox Central High School in Knoxville, Tenn. before moving from Knoxville to a 12-acre tract of property in the Capital Hill community east of Huntsville in 1990. His family described him as “mentally disturbed.”
Carpenter purchased his Capital Hill property in 1990, wanting a “nice little quiet spot somewhere,” a family member said. However, in 1993, he began to “go off the deep end.” His brother said that although Carpenter had not served in the Vietnam War, he began to tell stories about Vietnam and how he had to change his name because he had killed so many people in Vietnam. “He was telling how there were body parts laying all around and if you got hit you could just pick one of them up and use it,” Carpenter’s brother said. “That’s where his mind frame was.”
Carpenter also believed the world would end in 1995, and thought that androids from outer space were taking over the world and had infiltrated law enforcement. His brother said that Carpenter believed android-controlled law enforcement officers would “give you something like ammonium chloride and make you forget, beat you up, then hypnotize you.”
Carpenter’s brother revealed that he had spoken to an attorney in Knoxville and wanted to have Carpenter committed to a psychiatric hospital to receive help before he harmed himself or others. Carpenter refused, however. His brother said he did not notify police about Carpenter’s issues because he was afraid it would lead to something like what eventually happened anyway.
A search of Carpenter’s property allegedly revealed trip wires and battleground-type bunkers.
Prelude to the shootout
Scott County Sheriff’s Department deputies Jackson Sharp and Tim Dunlap were dispatched to Carpenter’s single-wide mobile home around 12:30pm on Saturday, January 22, 1994.
The complainant reported that Carpenter had pointed a gun who were sledding on the snow-covered Old Highway 63 in front of his home. Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Jeff Laxton told reporters that it was the second complaint the department had received about Carpenter that week, but officers were unable to locate him following the initial complaint.
As deputies Sharp and Dunlap knocked on the door of Carpenter’s mobile home, Carpenter allegedly emerged from the nearby woods and forced the deputies at gunpoint to leave his property, abandoning the four-wheel-drive vehicle they had arrived in.
The deputies left the scene and called the Scott County Jail in Huntsville for backup. Ten more officers arrived on the scene within the next 30 minutes and began negotiations with Carpenter, who had barricaded himself inside the mobile home. At one point, Carpenter’s mother called him and asked him to give himself up. But Carpenter hung up on her.
As darkness approached hours later and the negotiations stalled, law enforcement threw teargas canisters into the mobile home. Allegedly, Carpenter opened fire on them.
The Shootout
The first shots in the gun battle were fired at approximately 6 p.m. on the evening of Saturday, January 22, and continued into the morning hours of Sunday, January 23.
Sheriff’s Department deputies sought cover behind a deputy’s Ford Bronco. Authorities speculated that, inside the mobile home, Carpenter used a cast iron bathtub as cover.
As reports from the scene spread, a number of other agencies joined the battle. Among them were Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison and three members of his department’s S.W.A.T. team, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Agent Charlie Scott, and Campbell County Sheriff’s Department deputy Scott Smith. Later, National Park Service ranger John Diefenbach from the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area joined the effort. As many as 20 law enforcement officers were positioned outside the mobile home.
“He continued to return fire. He never talked to us again. Every time we quit shooting he’d fire. We did not try to make entry into the trailer. This man was determined. He had no intention of wanting to give up. He would raise up and take aim at us through the windows and we would make him get down. He would try to guess where we were and he would shoot through the bottom of the trailer. He got close and it’s a wonder he didn’t get lucky.” — Jeff Laxton, Scott County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy
In all, deputies were estimated to have expended 3,000 rounds of ammunition and set off up to 40 canisters of teargas, while also utilizing stun grenades during the shootout.
The Death of Max Carpenter
Carpenter escaped from the mobile home about 15 minutes before daybreak on Sunday, January 23, 1994. He made his way down an embankment to the railroad tracks approximately one-fourth of a mile from his home.
The Scott County Sheriff’s Department had set up two perimeters around Carpenter’s home in case he escaped. Carpenter encountered two deputies at the railroad tracks, who demanded that he surrender. He allegedly refused, pulling a .22 caliber revolver from his pocket and cocking it.
“They shot him and put him down. He continued to try to get up two or three times. Each time he did he tried to return fire and was shot again,” Jeff Laxton said.
Aftermath
Carpenter’s body was taken to a hospital in Morristown, Tenn. for an autopsy. He was later buried at Sherwood Chapel & Memorial Gardens in Alcoa, Tenn.
Inside Carpenter’s mobile home, officers confiscated an assortment of weapons and a large cache of ammunition, along with a pound of marijuana. In addition to the .22 revolver Carpenter had in his possession when he died, officers recovered a 9mm handgun, a .30-30 rifle, a .38 caliber revolver and a .22 bolt-action rifle.
News Coverage
A camera crew from WATE Channel 6 in Knoxville, an ABC affiliate, captured footage during the shootout, which aired on subsequent newscasts.
Following is the story that was published by the Independent Herald on Thursday, January 27, 1994:
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CAPITAL HILL — Two Sheriff’s Department deputies shot and killed a Scott County man here early Sunday morning after he had held officers at bay for more than 18 hours and engaged them in an all night gun battle.
The dead man was identified as Max E. Carpenter, 34, formerly of Knoxville, whom family members say had been mentally disturbed since last summer. He had moved to a rugged 12-acre site in Capital Hill in 1990 and was said to have been an electrician by trade.
Carpenter was shot to death by two Scott County Sheriff’s Department deputies on the railroad tracks approximately a quarter of a mile from his mobile home where the gun battle took place. Carpenter was said to have been shot repeatedly by blasts from 12 gauge shotguns after he had refused to surrender. The deputies said that Carpenter cocked and aimed the .22 caliber revolver he was carrying before he was shot. Both officers have been placed on administrative leave pending the completion of an investigation by the TBI.
The story began to unfold around 12:30 p.m. on Saturday when Scott County Deputies Jackson Sharp and Tim Dunlap were dispatched to the mobile home to investigate a complaint that the occupant had pointed a firearm at children who were sled riding on a nearby roadway (old Hwy. 63). It was the second such complaint the Sheriff’s Department had received within a week, according to Chief Deputy Jeff Laxton, who added that Carpenter could not be located following the initial complaint.
The officers said they knocked on the door of the mobile home, got no answer and were preparing to leave when Carpenter emerged from the nearby woods and “got the drop on them,” according to Laxton. The two officers were forced at gunpoint to leave the property and to abandon the four-wheel-drive vehicle they had arrived in, Laxton said.
The two officers left the scene and called the Scott County Jail for backup. Some 10 local officers arrived on the scene over the next 20 to 30 minutes and negotiations with Carpenter, who had holed up in the trailer, began.
Laxton said at first Carpenter would talk to them, but after a few hours, he refused to answer and refused to come out. Laxton said that as darkness approached, he (Laxton) was forced to make a decision — to teargas the dwelling and force Carpenter out. But once the teargas was injected into the mobile home, Carpenter opened fire.
“We told him we were going to inject teargas and we would give him two minutes to come out. We shot what we had in and used the Bronco for cover to get closer to use the hand-thrown type (canisters). He started firing at us and we returned fire,” Laxton stated.
The gun battle raged from around 6 p.m. on Saturday into the early hours of the morning on Sunday, said Laxton, who speculated that Carpenter had used a cast iron bathtub as cover through much of the battle. Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison and a three-member S.W.A.T. team, TBI Agent Charlie Scott, and Deputy Scott Smith from the Campbell County Sheriff’s Department also came to the scene, Laxton said. At one point, as many as 20 law enforcement officers were in position around the trailer, Laxton said.
“He continued to return fire. He never talked to us again. Every time we quit shooting he’d fire. We did not try to make entry into the trailer,” said Laxton. “This man was determined. He had no intention of wanting to give up. He would reuse up to and take aim at us through the windows and we would make him get down. He would try to guess where we were and he would shoot through the bottom of the trailer. He got close and it’s a wonder he didn’t get lucky.”
Just before dawn, Carpenter reportedly jumped out of a back door of the trailer, slid down an embankment, and made his way to the railroad tracks where he was confronted by two officers and was shot to death.
“About 15 minutes before daybreak he makes his exit — gets down on the railroad tracks and goes toward the New Town tipple. We had another perimeter set up down there and one after that if he gets by that. They (the two deputies) yelled at him to drop his gun. He pulls his gun and cocks it. They shot him and put him down. He continued to try to get up two or three times. Each time he did he tried to return fire and was shot again,” Laxton said.
The body was taken first to the Scott County Hospital and then later transferred to Morristown where an autopsy was to have been performed.
Confiscated were an assortment of weapons, a large cache of ammunition, approximately one pound of marijuana and, from a nearby shed, items believed to have been used in manufacturing marijuana, Laxton said.
The weapons seized by the officers included the .22 caliber revolver Carpenter had in his possession when he was killed, a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol, a 30-30 Marlin rifle with scope, a .38 caliber revolver and a .22 caliber bolt-action rifle.
Laxton estimated that officers expended 3,000 rounds of ammunition into the trailer, set off 30 to 40 canisters of teargas and utilized “stun grenades” during the course of the assault on the mobile home. The relatively small mobile home was completely riddled with bullets as were all of the furnishings of the home.
Two 4×4 “drug vehicles” owned by the Sheriff’s Department and used as cover during the gun fight were also damaged by bullets. The hail of gunfire, both from the officers stationed around the trailer and the trailer’s occupant, “sounded like a war zone,” according to Donald Jeffers, who was among the dozens of people who gathered at the intersection of Hwy. 63 and Old Hwy. 63, approximately a quarter of a mile away.
Almost from the onset of the gun battle, a unit from the Scott County Ambulance Service and a unit from the Huntsville Volunteer Fire Department were summoned to the scene and these emergency personnel were told to stand by. They did so throughout the night until the ordeal was over early Sunday morning.
A camera crew from Knoxville television station WATE (Channel 6) remained on the scene throughout the night and got some dramatic footage which was aired on Sunday night’s newscast and again Monday morning.
After Carpenter was shot and killed, the entire area was cordoned off, Laxton said, and the TBI launched its investigation. Two TBI agents remained on the scene until around midday on Sunday, at which time Laxton let reporters from both local newspapers into the scene.
No officers were wounded, but several had “close calls,” according to Laxton. He said a bullet passed within a couple of inches from the head of National Park Service Ranger John Diefenbach, that Deputies Randy Lewallen, Andrew Lewallen and others were covered with snow from shots hitting the ground around them, and that he (Laxton) had a close call himself when he raised up from behind cover to loft a teargas grenade into the trailer.
“I had just let it go and it was about two feet from my hand when a bullet hit it and knocked it up on top of the trailer,” Laxton said.
Laxton said he had never been involved in a situation like this.
“Usually, if someone’s got a problem, they’ll talk to you, they will at least try to communicate with you. He did not want to communicate. He did not want to even consider doing anything else but fighting with us. And every time we’d quit fighting with him, tried to quit, he’d just burn us up. He almost got us several times.”
Laxton said that the only way the officers had of keeping Carpenter from being accurate with his gunfire was “we put enough fire on him to keep him off of us.”
The big problem, Laxton said, “is that we’re in a position where we have to do a job and one of the first things we have to do is make sure that if this man’s that dangerous, we can’t let him get out. And the only way we can guarantee that is to be in where we can see what’s going on.”
TBI Agent Charlie Scott had a similar assessment of the situation at Capital Hill. He said he had been involved in several different situations where a person would barricade himself in a house, “but not like this, not this many shots, not this long. I’ve never had one holed up this long,” he said. Scott said a criminal history check was run on Carpenter but that “it didn’t show anything violent.”
Officers reported that the property surrounding Carpenter’s trailer contained “trip wires” and battleground-type bunkers. Through the trees high above the trailer wires were strung and a vine was started on those wires, according to one deputy, in an apparent attempt to eventually have a camouflaged covering over the mobile home.