Ex-officer charged with
aggravated assault in Roane shooting
The former Lenoir City police officer who allegedly shot his wife multiple times in the chest and then staged a four-hour standoff with authorities Saturday had good work record with the police department and left for personal reasons.
Alex Gambrill, age unavailable, has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault, officials said.
Roane County Sheriff Jack Stockton on Sunday said no bond has been set for Gambrill because he hasn't been arraigned yet.
Jenny Gambrill was listed in stable condition Sunday at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, where she was taken after Saturday's shooting, and her condition is expected to improve over the next few days, the sheriff said.
Stockton said Detective Greg Scalf was interviewing Alex Gambrill on Sunday.
The sheriff said he's confident evidence will show Alex Gambrill was the shooter.
"It is obvious he shot her. Detective Scalf is interviewing him, I don't know if he'll tell him anything," Stockton said.
Alex Gambrill surrendered to authorities about 7 p.m. Saturday outside the residence at 142 Bridges Lane, east of Harriman, according to Stockton.
Authorities were called to the scene about 2:30 p.m. on the report of a woman who had been shot.
The sheriff said that according to Alex Gambrill's father, Alex Gambrill rendered first aid to his ex-wife before rescue personnel arrived on the scene.
The suspect's father also reported his son told him someone fired on him before he fired. The sheriff said on Sunday he wasn't aware of evidence that someone else fired a weapon.
Stockton said Saturday's standoff was difficult because Alex Gambrill is a former police officer and understood the tactics deputies were using in dealing with him.
"He's an academy-trained officer and was very tactical himself. It was touch and go. You never know anybody's thought process so you handle it like everything else and set up negotiations," Stockton said.
The sheriff said Scalf communicated with Alex Gambrill by cell phone for two hours Saturday before a couple of other officers came to the scene who knew him and he asked for one to come up to the house and they started talking.
"We were fortunate, there were tense situations at that time during that standoff," Stockton said.
The sheriff said the Gambrills were divorced and there was an issue about a text message between Alex Gambrill and his ex-wife's boyfriend.
"They were texting back and forth and that is apparently what set him over the edge," Stockton said.
The sheriff said that after the shooting, the boyfriend, who was unarmed, ran down the road and waited for deputies.
Stockton said authorities have been called to the address in the past.
"I don't remember the history, but I remembered the address," the sheriff said.
Lenoir City Police Chief Don White said he didn't have documentation with him Sunday as far as dates of employment, but he hired Alex Gambrill as a patrol officer after he was laid off from the Tennessee Valley Authority police department.
"He was a good employee for us and resigned due to personal reasons," the chief said. "He had no disciplinary problems with us."