Tara

The past few weeks for the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office have been highly emotional.

With the recent fatal shooting of a Blacksburg man by a sheriff's deputy, everyone from Sheriff Bill Blanton himself down to the officers who responded, and even those who were not working, have been affected emotionally by the shooting.

Of course, the family who lost 42-year-old Alfred Behney has been more deeply and permanently affected.

There has been much dispute over the actions of the sheriff's office and whether the fatal situation could have been avoided.

According to neighbors and family, Alfred's death was wrongful, and could have been avoided.

The sheriff's office, although not making many public statements, has said there was no way to avoid that situation by arresting Alfred, or others who were there causing the noise disturbance and domestic dispute.

Neighbors have claimed that because deputies responded to the home three times within three hours, someone — particulary Alfred — could and should have been removed from the residence and taken to jail.

Sheriff's deputies have said that those claims are uneducated and there was no lawful reason, or proof, to take anyone to jail.

While I agree that three visits to one home in three hours is uncalled for, especially when the final call led to three people being shot including one fatally, I do not know the circumstances of those first two visits. It could have been a "he said, she said" dispute, or any other kind of argument, and unless police have proof of a crime they can't just go around arresting people.

However, on that same note, I remember a few parties back in my college days when we were warned if the police returned to our location, SOMEONE was going to jail for the night — and that was just for noise violations, and other typical college activities.

But in this case, no one was taken to jail the first two visits. That can't be changed, no matter how much we talk about what could have been done. "Hindsight is 20/20" fits perfectly in this tragic case.

If I were in that deputy's shoes, responding to the third call of the evening at the home at 1042 Lookout Tower Road, I believe I may have acted exactly the same way.

The call to 9-1-1 stated that there was a shooting with injuries. I am a scanner junkie, meaning the majority of the time you will see me carrying around my scanner, listening for breaking news so hopefully I can catch it on film.

I know without a doubt that when I hear a similar call, my heart starts jumping and my adrenaline kicks in. After talking with other police, some seem to be able to train themselves to settle down in those situations. After all, they do need to be at the top of their game in any situation — especially one with a known shooter.

When police arrived at the home, they first saw a shooting victim with a large gunshot wound to his face. Next, from the accounts I've received from neighbors and police, Alfred came out of the home armed with a sharp object, threatening officers.

Knowing that Alfred apparently had no problem shooting someone he was at least close enough to invite to his home, police obviously were alarmed.

From what I've heard, Alfred said he was never going back to jail. He had just been released after assaulting a Blacksburg Police officer. For all we know, the thought that he had already assaulted an officer may have been going through that deputy's mind.

I believe if I was in that same situation, I would have pulled the trigger as well. Yes, there are other options, like nonfatal shots, but again, we don't know all the circumstances around it.

And had the officer not pulled the trigger, we may have been mourning the first sheriff's deputy ever killed in the line of duty.

(Tara Jennings covers crime for The Gaffney Ledger. You can contact him via e-mail at tara@gaffneyledger.com)

Jennings