Victim Warned about Violence Months Before Murder-Suicide
MARION COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) – Tragedy struck Marion County Thursday night.
Six people are dead and one more is in the hospital as a domestic dispute turned violent.
The home on Pine Road in Sequatchie that was the site of a murder-suicide Thursday evening.
Marion County Sheriff Bo Burnett said, “I’ve been around here a long time and as far back as I can remember I don’t remember seeing that many people deceased in one incident.”
At 8:46 p.m. Thursday night, Marion County first responders were called to 246 Pine Street in Sequatchie to a shots fired call.
When they arrived on the scene, they saw a home engulfed in flames.
Sheriff Burnetts said, “They did pull some people out, then after further investigation we found out it was a murder-suicide.”
Sheriff Burnett says that Gary Barnett, in his late 40s, is the suspect in this incident.
He says that Barnett’s estranged wife, Regina Barnett, her daughter Brittany Perez, and Perez’s three children, two females and one male, are the deceased victims in this incident.
An unnamed man was transported to Erlanger for gunshot wounds.
Sheriff Burnett says that Barnett shot an unknown number of victims before setting the house on fire, and turning a gun on himself.
According to an affidavit we obtained from Marion County, Gary Barnett had been charged with domestic assault in December.
His ex-wife Regina Barnett stated in the complaint that he had quote, “threatened to shoot her and verbally abused her everyday.”
She also added that he threatened to shoot her dog and possessed anywhere from 50 to 60 guns.
Perhaps the most haunting line of the affidavit, she stated quote, “I am afraid he is going to get drunk and shoot me.”
The TBI will be leading this investigation with assistance from Marion County’s Sheriff Department.
They will be conducting autopsies at their laboratory.
Sheriff Burnett says this will likely be a short investigation due to it being a murder-suicide and there is no ongoing threat to the public.
Sheriff Burnett said, “I was raised in that area so I’m real familiar and things like this just don’t happen, I wish it would never happen, but it’s just a very isolated tragic incident.”
