3 arrests in Polk County over suspected drug deal

BENTON, Tennessee (WDEF) – Polk County investigators have charged three people in a deadly shooting from last week.

The Polk County Sheriff calls the case a drug transaction gone bad.

Now two juveniles and an adult face felony murder charges.

Sheriff Steve Ross says the three suspects went to a home on highway 411 for a drug deal.

He says at some point an altercation broke out and one of the suspects started shooting.

Timothy MaKlain Lawson was killed.

The adult charged in the case is 18-year-old Robert Benton.

Sheriff Ross concludes, “It is always concerning when young people are making these kinds of choices and it just goes to show there is no friendship in drugs. Anything can go bad in a heartbeat.”