Three people plus the suspect are dead in a stabbing attack at Knoxville I-40 truck stop
Knoxville TN April 8 2020
Three people are dead after a stabbing at a Pilot Travel Center just off Interstate 40 on Strawberry Plains Pike.
The stabbing suspect also was shot dead by a Knox County Sheriff’s Office deputy.
“It’s a very large scene — it involves outside and inside,” said Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Leslie Earhart. The victims include Pilot employees, she said.
One additional stabbing victim was taken to the hospital. That person’s condition is unknown.
“Upon arrival, officers observed at least one person with stab wounds outside of the store. A man, armed with a knife and identified by witnesses as the suspect, was also observed in the parking lot,” according to a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation press release.
Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler said the deputy who fired the shot was not hurt.
Multiple Knoxville and Knox County officers responded to the gas station for what was initially reported as an “attempted stabbing.”
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s mobile command unit is on site at the Pilot Travel Center at 7210 Strawberry Plains Pike just off I-40.
Dispatchers said a call to 911 came in at 6:54 a.m. A deputy arrived at the scene at 6:56 a.m.
Pilot CEO Jimmy Haslam was at the gas station as well.
