Sheriff: Accused killer planned ‘ambush’
MARYVILLE — The man accused of killing a police officer had planned to “ambush” officers and blamed police for ruining his life, authorities said Friday.
“It was our speculation that it was definitely an ambush that had been set up,” Blount County Sheriff James Berrong said at a news conference.
Brian Keith Stalans, 44, faces charges that include criminal homicide and could range up to capital murder in the death of Maryville Police Department Officer Kenny Moats, 32. He remained in jail Friday night with bond set at $1.5 million and was set to appear Monday afternoon in Blount County General Sessions Court.
Authorities said Stalans shot Moats in the neck Thursday when Moats and a Blount County Sheriff’s Office deputy went to Stalan’s home on Alcoa Trail near Kerrway Lane where Stalans was arguing with his father.
The bullet struck Moats just above his bullet-resistant vest, the sheriff said. He died at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
Moats’ partner and another deputy involved in the shootout remain on administrative leave with pay. Authorities haven’t given their names. The sheriff said officers executing a search warrant at Stalans’ home found in the basement a letter “blaming the Blount County Sheriff ’s Office and family members for his misfortunes,” as well as a “makeshift barricade that would protect him while he fired and also a place to rest his arm while he fired.”
Moats, a nine-year veteran of the Maryville Police Department, and his partner were answering the second domestic violence call of the day at Stalans’ address. Deputies responded to the first call at the home where Stalans lived with his father around 10:45 a.m. Berrong said Stalans’ father called E-911 around 4 p.m. and told a dispatcher that Stalans had a weapon. Dispatchers relayed that warning to Moats and his partner, assigned to the 5th Judicial District Drug Task Force, who were nearby and volunteered to answer the call, he said. Another unit had initially been dispatched.
The officers arrived, parked at another home about 70 yards behind Stalans’ house and moved the father to safety, then took cover behind their vehicle waiting for help to arrive while watching the house. Stalans went to the basement garage and opened fire on the officers with five shots from his .45-caliber pistol, the sheriff said. One of those shots struck Moats in the neck, he said.
Knoxville police cruisers escorted the ambulance carrying Moats on the drive to the hospital Thursday afternoon along Alcoa Highway. Dozens of cruisers escorted his body back to Maryville on Friday, carried in a white hearse surrounded by motorcycles.