The Knox County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting of a suspect by a Knox County Officer.  There were several incidents leading up to the shooting that left 32 year old Gary William Leon with a gunshot wound to the leg.

The first incident began around 8:00 p.m. when officers were dispatched to 6916 Mary Sharp Way to investigate a suicidal person.  Misty Leon had earlier gone to her brother’s apartment to check on him and he held a rifle against her throat and then later a handgun to her head. She said he threatened suicide.  She got away from him and went to her grandmother’s apartment on Mary Sharp Way because she was afraid Leon was headed there. She saw her brother pull up in his car and watched from a neighbor’s apartment as Leon broke out a window and then left.  The grandmother was not at home at the time.

Leon then went to his mother’s apartment at Walker Springs Road and became upset with her and his niece and went next door to his apartment and came back with a semi-automatic handgun and a rifle.  He hit his mother, Tina Graves, on the side of her head and threatened to kill her and his niece.  He held them against their will, pointing the guns at their heads until they were able to talk him into letting them leave the apartment about 40 minutes later.

Leon then went to a friend’s apartment at 2639 Bakertown Road after 9:30.  Paul Headrick said he opened the door and Leon forced his way in and pointed a handgun at his head and threatened to kill him.  Headrick’s fiancée, Sharon Baker, was on the phone with Headrick during the incident and called 911 on her way over to his apartment.  When she arrived, Headrick and Leon were on the front porch and Leon threatened to kill her.  They got away from Leon and back into the apartment as officers responded.

When officers confronted Leon in the parking lot, he pulled a pistol from his shoulder holster and fired several rounds at three officers.  They returned fire.  The suspect then ran into some nearby woods and quickly returned and reached for a rifle he had stashed near a car and pointed it at officers.  They fired at Leon with one round hitting him in the leg.  He is being treated at the University of Tennessee Medical Center for a non-life threatening injury.

Leon has been charged with seven counts of aggravated assault and two of false imprisonment.  His total bond is set at $90,000.  Three other warrants for attempted second degree murder are also expected to be issued shortly. Leon has a criminal history involving reckless driving, public intoxication, theft, aggravated assault, aggravated burglary, and driving under the influence.

The three officers involved in the shooting are on administrative leave with pay, which is standard policy, as the incident is investigated by the KCSO Major Crimes Unit.