Horrifying footage circulating online shows a deranged man fatally shooting and injuring his partner's son at close range during a heated argument, before a long standoff with police culminated in the shooter being killed. He took his own life.
Jeffrey Scott West, 68, of Friendsville, Tennessee, fired a gun at Kyle W. Spitze, 24, during an argument on August 25th, striking him in the ear. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.According to 2023 Blount County Sheriff's Office.
In shocking point-of-view footage of Spitze's final moments, West can be heard shouting at the man before appearing in his bedroom doorway and brandishing a handgun.
“I'm getting ready to blow his brains out! Right now,” West can be heard yelling as he emerges from behind the door, cigarette dangling from his mouth, and pointing the gun directly at Spitze, who is lying in bed. .
Spitze's mother was seen running towards West with his pants down, begging him to stop, and eventually pushing him away from the bedroom door.
“Blow my brains out? Shoot me and I guarantee you you'll go to prison for the rest of your life,” Spitz replied.
“Do you want me?” West shouted as he came back in front of the camera and pointed a handgun at the victim while lounging on the bed.
Spitze's mother tried to defuse the heated exchange by closing the door to her son's house and began arguing with West.
“I'm getting ready to blow his brains out, and yours too!” West yelled from behind the door, prompting Spitze to get up and open the door.
“Are you going to blow your mother's brains out?” the victim shouted as he stood in the hallway of the home, telling West to “point the gun at him again”.
As the camera panned west, the man pointed the gun again in Spitze's direction.
As the victim's mother gasped in complete shock, a single shot was fired directly into the camera.
After several seconds of eerie silence, Spitz's mother asked in complete disbelief, “Did West just hit you?”
A bullet appears to have grazed his ear, and blood begins to drip onto Spitze's leg and the hardwood floor.
“Oh my god! You're going to jail,” Melanie yelled as West walked away.
When the clip ended, Spitze ran out the back door of the house in a panic for help.
Blount County Sheriff's Office at the time report A 911 call was made shortly afterward reporting a shooting.
When officers arrived at the scene around 8:15 p.m., they found Spitz and his mother outside the home while West barricaded himself inside the residence.
Members of the Sheriff's Crisis Negotiation Team and SWAT team were called to the scene to negotiate with the shooter, understanding the seriousness of the situation.
Police said they used a public information system to talk to West while surrounding his home in hopes that he would surrender.
After nearly two and a half hours of unsuccessful attempts to contact West, officers deployed a sheriff's K-9 to the home shortly before 11 p.m.
West will be found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, law enforcement said.
Once police arrived on the scene, Spitz was rushed to the University of Tennessee Medical Center for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
It is unclear what kind of relationship existed between West and Spitz.
No law enforcement officers were injured in the August standoff, police said.
Friendsville is approximately 32 miles southwest of downtown Knoxville.
