The brother of Theodore Deschler, a Henderson, Tennessee, man who was shot and killed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on August 16 at a home that he shared with his mother, provided further details on the incident in an interview with DailyMail.
“We believe they broke the windows of the garage so they could shoot,” Russell Deschler told the news outlet.
Russell told DailyMail on Thursday that he believes his brother was unarmed. He also said that at least one FBI agent could be seen shooting inside the home through a garage window, noting that from the agent’s vantage point, he would not have been able to see Deschler, who was standing in the kitchen.
“He didn’t have a weapon on him,’ Russell said. He was just trying to get out of the house because it was filled with tear gas.”
“The height of the door and where Teddy was standing when they shot him and killed him, you couldn’t see if he was armed or not,” he continued. “And you know he wasn’t, because if you look at the door you could see where his hands were full of blood and went down the door.”
Details about the fatal raid are scarce.
The FBI released a canned statement shortly after the August 16 incident but has not commented since, despite multiple requests from The Tennessee Star and others.
“The FBI is reviewing an agent-involved shooting which occurred today at approximately 6:40 am while FBI SWAT was conducting an arrest operation in Henderson, TN,” said a statement from the federal law enforcement agency. “The subject is deceased. The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force members seriously. In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under review by the FBI’s Inspection Division. As this is an ongoing matter, we have no further details to provide.”
Earlier this week, State Senator Page Walley (R-Savannah) told The Star that local law enforcement was not made aware of the raid until after it was conducted, and only then was the Henderson Police Department called in to provide security at the scene.
“I’ve been making some inquiries since I learned of it,” Walley said Tuesday. “I’ve been on the phone with the Chester County Sheriff’s Department, and the Henderson police. “Neither the sheriff’s department or the Henderson Police Department were informed by the FBI until after the event.”
“It’s a concern, and I’m doing what I can to glean information,” he said. “I’m going to keep making calls.”
Deschler did have a long criminal history, including charges for violent crimes including Aggravated Assault and Assault With A Deadly Weapon Without Intent To Kill.
He was arrested in a May stabbing at a gas station in Selmer and booked into the McNairy County Jail.
It remains unclear how Deschler got out of jail after the alleged stabbing, though it is possible that the charges against him were dropped or that he was released on bail.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter.
Photo “Deschler Home” by Russell Deschler.
