TIPTON COUNTY, Tenn. — A family is in mourning and crying out for help after 18-year-old Logan Kilpatrick was shot and killed by Tipton County deputies.
Now his family wants not only answers, but an apology over the way they claim they have been treated. They spoke exclusively with WREG on Wednesday.
“Logan was having a mental crisis incident,” his grandmother said. “Instead of shooting him, they should have talked him down and he was not talked down.”
The emotion was almost too much for Ronnie Kilpatrick.
“I want to know why they let my son lay there for those hours on that ground and why they treated us like they did,” he said.
Logan was shot and killed by deputies in Quito Estates on Sunday. Tipton County Sheriff Shannon Beasley said when deputies arrived, Logan was making suicidal threats and refusing to cooperate.
He says shots were eventually fired by a deputy and Kilpatrick.
Lois Brown, Logan’s grandmother, said multiple family members had confrontations with deputies leading to threats of jail time. She shared a picture of bruises on her daughter-in-law’s arm.
“They pushed my 17-year-old granddaughter and all we were doing was asking for questions if my grandson was deceased or alive,” Brown said. “They told us they couldn’t tell us anything, that they had an officer was involved and their concerns was more with that officer.”
Brown said they’ve heard from the medical examiner but nothing from Tipton County or the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
She says she knows her grandson, and it wasn’t the image painted by deputies.
“He was not on drugs, he just had a mental breakdown over a breakup with a girl, and that’s all I know,” she said.
For now the family says they’ll remember Logan as a mild-mannered high school graduate who was set to start his apprenticeship for sheet metal and HVAC maintenance.
“He’s been taken away from us in a senseless act,” Brown said. “I think it was unjustifiable, I really do, and I am going to get to the bottom of this.”
The TBI says they are still investigating and will release findings to the district attorney.
The family has set up a Gofundme for burial expenses.