CROCKETT COUNTY, Tenn. — WREG is learning more information about the Crockett County deputy-involved shooting that left Rodney Hess dead.
Hess went live on Facebook. The video lasted nearly twenty minutes.
The first part you see him walking into traffic on Highway 412 near 88 close to Alamo, and then you see Hess blocking the road with his SUV.
Eventually deputies show up. Hess asks for their superior several times.
Moments later, the video shows a deputy walk up holding an object.
Hess then puts his phone down, so there’s no clear video of what happens next.
The TBI said Hess was acting erratic and tried to run over several deputies twice, so a deputy fired his gun striking and later killing Hess.
Loved ones say Hess suffered from a mental illness, and believe he was disoriented and lost Thursday just pleading for help.
“It’s not showing him committing a crime. It’s showing a cry for help. To show him waking through that traffic, it’s showing I’m through,” said Tiffany Roberts.
She was out of town, but spoke to us on the phone. She went to Kirby High with Hess and dated him.
She said Hess called her several times last week and tried to see her.
“It was like he was waiting for something to happen. I’m thinking he was at his breaking point,” she said.
Hess apparently was living in Dallas with his fiancé. No one seems to know why he was in Crockett county.
Family posted a video after it happened, and told WREG they would be releasing another statement soon.
“We just praying justice will be served, and if there’s anything covered up, it will be brought to light,” said one family member.
The county administration told WREG deputies are armed with dash and body cameras, and that footage is now in the state’s hands.
The TBI has not said when their investigation will conclude.
