4 found shot to death near Tennessee mountain resort

USPA News - Four people were found shot to death Thursday in a car near a former mountain resort in central Tennessee, local authorities said, adding that the victims appeared to have been deliberately targeted and that investigators were pursuing leads. The bodies were discovered by a resident of the Renegade Mountain resort community who saw the car on a gravel road while on his way to work at about 7 a.m. local time on Thursday.

The scene is located about 100 yards (91 meters) off a main road at a former resort near the community of Crab Orchard in Cumberland County. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) spokeswoman Kristin Helm said the four victims, described as either in their teens or early 20s, had been shot to death. "We are working to identify them as well as determine ages. At this time we are investigating it as a homicide," she said, rejecting the possibility of a murder-suicide. Deputy District Attorney General Gary McKenzie said investigators did not know when the shooting occurred, but believe it happened in the hours prior to the discovery of the bodies. "I can tell you that we think we are in a pretty close window of when it happened, but I can`t specifically say was it last night or 10 minutes before the car was found," he said. No arrests had been made as of late Thursday, but investigators said the victims appear to have been deliberately targeted and assured local residents there is no threat to the community. "We do not believe the community is in any form of danger, that`s important for the community to understand," McKenzie said. Casey Cox, chief investigator of the Cumberland County Sheriff`s Office, said the investigation was in the early stages and that its crime scene unit is still processing the scene. "We`ve got an active investigation, we have some things that we are going to follow up on," Cox said, without elaborating on the leads they are pursuing. John Moore, President of the Renegade Mountain Community Club, said he sent out an e-mail and Facebook message to local residents to come forward with any information they may have about the shooting. "Throughout the day we received several tips that were turned over to the Cumberland County Sheriff`s Office," he said. McKenzie, who said federal authorities were also involved in the investigation, described it as an `unusual` crime in a county that typically handles about 3 to 4 homicides per year. "I prosecuted a double homicide a year or two ago, but four [victims] in one [scene] is very unusual for this area," he said.