Tennessee Forum

ROGERSVILLE – At 4 p.m. Monday, Hawkins County Sheriff Roger Christian held a press conference to announce the arrest of a 16-year-old Hawkins County teen in connection with the apparent shooting death of his grandparents.

Christian said that Brandon Fannin was taken into custody at 3:45 a.m. Monday after he returned to the home of Clyde and Linda Fannin. The couple had been found dead in their Stanley Valley Road home after officers went to the location for a welfare check.

The sheriff said that while gunshot wounds appear to be the cause of death, he will await the autopsy reports for the official cause of death.

Christian said that when the Fannins were discovered “they may have been there before we arrived as much as 24 hours.”

After discovery of the bodies, authorities learned that another individual lived in the home.

“He was not present,” the sheriff said. At that point, a BOLO was issued for the teen, who was believed to be driving a 2006 Honda Odyssey belonging to his grandparents.

Christian said that the boy was driving the missing vehicle when he returned to the home and taken into custody. There had been a couple of sightings of the vehicle over the weekend.

A number of guns were recovered from the scene, the sheriff said. Clyde Fannin, a retired police officer from Newport News, Va. “enjoyed having guns.” He said he did not know if any of the recovered weapons will turn out to be the murder weapon.

“I didn’t see any guns in the vehicle,” Christian said, adding that the youth “may have had a pocketknife on him.”

The sheriff said that as of now, the teen is believed to be “the only person who’s involved.”

When asked about the teen’s demeanor when taken into custody, Christian said “he was about like us. He was a tired young man."