On Saturday, July 25 at approximately 2:15 a.m., Knoxville Police Department officers observed a male suspect fire multiple rounds in the Cumberland Avenue area before getting into the driver’s seat of a white Nissan Sentra and fleeing the scene westbound on Cumberland. Officers attempted to make contact with the vehicle and observed it turn south onto Alcoa Highway. At that time, the suspect fired one round towards a KPD officer’s unmarked vehicle and exit onto Cherokee Trail.
At around 3:45 a.m., the suspect vehicle was located on Fern Street near MLK. Officers followed the suspect for several blocks in an effort to verify if it was the same vehicle from the previous incident to Beaman Lake Road, where the suspect vehicle stopped in the middle of the road just north of Yellowstone and fired approximately 20 rounds at the officer’s vehicle. The suspect vehicle then fled the scene. The officer was not injured and his vehicle was not damaged during the incident. No other shooting victims were reported.
The suspect was later identified as James Marquiz Ketner (DOB: 2/22/00) and warrants were issued for Attempted Second Degree Murder and Aggravated Assault with a $70,000 bond. On Sunday night, Ketner turned himself in and was booked into the Roger D. Wilson Detention Facility, where he has since bonded out.