LENOIR CITY, Tenn. – A man wanted on rape charges is dead after he was shot in Tennessee as deputies tried to arrest him.
District Attorney General Russell Johnson said in a statement two Loudon County deputies went to Thongsavanh Vandarack's home Wednesday to arrest him on a statutory rape charge.
Vandarack had his hands in his pockets, and when they ordered him to remove them he brought up what appeared to be a handgun. Both investigators opened fire. Vandarack was shot repeatedly and pronounced dead at a hospital.
He had previously served 17 years in a Wisconsin prison for crimes including attempted homicide. Johnson says Vandarack's girlfriend told investigators he did not want to go back to prison.
Vandarack was of Laotian descent. Johnson did not name the officers or identify their race.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
