TBI investigates Parsons shooting after wanted man flees deputies

Deputy marshals found wanted man Anthony Phoenix on Gilbert Road in Parsons, and the encounter quickly escalated into a vehicle pursuit and gunfire in a Decatur County neighborhood. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation stepped in after 24th Judicial District Attorney General Matt Stowe asked for an outside review of the officer-involved shooting.

The TBI said its preliminary information shows deputies located the 34-year-old Phoenix in the 100 block of Gilbert Road while he was wanted on arrest warrants from Henderson County and the state of Kentucky. According to the bureau’s account, Phoenix fled in a vehicle, led officers on a brief pursuit and, at some point during that chase, officers fired upon the vehicle.

Because the shooting involved law enforcement, the TBI handled it from the start as an officer-involved shooting, a process the agency describes as independent fact-finding. In those cases, the bureau says its agents document the scene, collect evidence and interview subjects and witnesses so the circumstances can be pieced together away from the local agencies directly involved.

Stowe’s request put the case under state review rather than leaving it solely with local authorities. The TBI also said it later brought new charges tied to the Decatur County shooting, adding another layer to a case that began with a wanted subject and unfolded on a residential street in Parsons.

The bureau says it has been asked to investigate 19 officer-involved shootings in 2026, placing the Parsons case within a broader statewide pattern of high-risk encounters that now draw immediate scrutiny. For Decatur County, the central questions are how the stop unfolded, why officers moved to gunfire and what the state investigation and district attorney review determine next.