From Chattanooga Times Free Press: A Rhea County, Tennessee, man charged in the Feb. 24 shooting of another man to death with an SKS rifle at a ho
From Chattanooga Times Free Press: A Rhea County, Tennessee, man charged in the Feb. 24 shooting of another man to death with an SKS rifle at a home on the Rhea-Bledsoe county line was indicted Monday by a grand jury.
Jackie Lee Goss, 29, of Dayton, was charged with criminal homicide in February after allegedly shooting Roy Hickman Jr. several times with the rifle at a home on Burke Lane on the west side of the county, according to Rhea County court records.
On Monday, Rhea County grand jurors issued an indictment charging Goss with first-degree murder.
Goss remains in the Rhea County Jail on a $1 million bond, jail records showed Monday.
Court officials said Goss is expected to be assigned an attorney at a hearing set for Friday. Goss’ case had been heard at a preliminary hearing April 4 in General Sessions Court, where it was sent to the grand jury.
According to the affidavit filed in the case, Goss and Hickman — Hickman, 52, is often referred to as “Junior” in court documents — had been arguing at the Burke Lane home. Goss wanted Hickman to give him a ride and Hickman refused, a witness told investigators. Goss allegedly left the Burke Lane property and then returned about five minutes later.
The witness, who was sitting in a car at the home, told authorities Hickman and Goss were arguing near a garage and a rifle barrel could be seen pointing in Hickman’s direction. According to the witness’s account to investigators, several shots rang out, and Hickman was seen falling to the ground. The witness crawled over to Hickman and found he wasn’t breathing.
Then Goss left the home again and went down the road to a neighbor’s home that deputies soon surrounded the affidavit states. Goss surrendered to officers after about an hour.
“I examined the body of Junior Hickman and he had several gunshot wounds, one I could see on his upper torso and one to the leg,” Rhea County Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Hall stated in the affidavit.
Four spent shells were found near Hickman’s body, the affidavit states.
A search of the home where Goss lives resulted in the alleged recovery of two SKS rifles along with several rounds of ammunition for the weapon found outside the home, the affidavit states. The SKS is a semi-automatic military rifle first manufactured in the Soviet Union in the 1940s, according to a historical account on the website military-today.com.
Goss was represented at his preliminary hearing by Public Defender Ted Engle’s office, and that office or another lawyer could be reappointed Friday to represent Goss as his case goes forward.
