The two Blount County sheriff’s deputies who were shot, one fatally, during a traffic stop Thursday night were new to law enforcement, Sheriff James Lee Berrong said in a Feb. 9 Facebook post.
Berrong was visibly emotional during an early morning press conference in which he detailed the death of Deputy Greg McCowan and the wounding of Deputy Shelby Eggers on F eb. 8 during a traffic stop on Sevierville Road in Maryville.
“I talked to his family earlier,” he said of McCowan. “I apologize for not protecting him.”
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McCowan was 43 and began his full-time career at Blount County Sheriff’s Office in 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Berrong said.
McCowan previously had worked in manufacturing, but he was always interested in law enforcement, Berrong said, adding that McCowan had served as a reserve deputy before being hired as a patrol deputy. He attended the Blount County Sheriff’s Office Regional Law Enforcement Academy and graduated in October 2020.