By Matt Latkin
The Knoxville News-Sentinel
Related: Tenn. cop shot responding to alarm
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The hunt for the men accused of shooting a Knoxville police offi cer ended Wednesday when the last remaining suspect gave himself up at a Waffle House and headed to jail, denying he did it.
“I ain’t shot nobody,” Cleven J. “Cleveland” Johnson said as offi - cers walked him to a police cruiser. “I’ve been framed. Don’t let KPD kill me.”
Johnson’s surrender Wednesday afternoon marked the last of three arrests in the Tuesday shooting of Knoxville Police Department Officer Norman Rickman.
Police said Johnson, 26, shot Rickman, a 19-year KPD veteran, when the officer went to investigate a burglar alarm call at 6600 Rockbridge Lane in Northwest Knoxville near the city limits.
Johnson and two others -James Willie Murry, 32, and Tony R. Dixon, 17 - met Rickman as they climbed out a back window Tuesday just before 3:15 p.m., police said.
Rickman, 45, remained in critical but stable condition at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, a day after the second shooting of his career. He survived being shot by a drunken-driving suspect in 2001.
“He’s certainly not out of the woods yet,” Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV said.
Johnson was jailed with bond set at $1 million.
He faces charges of attempted first-degree murder, especially aggravated burglary, and possession of a gun in the commission of a
felony, police said.
Murry remained in jail with bond set at $300,000, and Dixon remained at the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Service Center without bond. Each faces a charge of especially aggravated burglary.
Officers arrested Murry and Dixon within four hours of the shooting as they rode in a Ford Crown Victoria on Cougar Drive, less than a mile from the house on Rockbridge.
Johnson gave himself up Tuesday just before 2 p.m. in the parking lot of a Waffl e House on Asheville Highway.
A relative had called the family of a KPD offi cer and worked out the surrender, KPD spokesman Darrell De-Busk said.
Police have said Johnson shot Rickman three times in the upper body when Rickman surprised the trio during the burglary on Rockbridge. Rickman didn’t return fire, the chief said.
Owen said Rickman gave his family “a smile and a thumbs-up” at the hospital Wednesday.
The chief said doctors expect Rickman will remain in the critical care unit for several days.
Owen encouraged the public to show support for Rickman by donating blood. Medic Regional Blood Center will hold a donation drive in Rickman’s honor 7 a.m.-5 p.m. today at the Safety Building on Howard Baker Jr. Boulevard.
Rickman didn’t wear his bullet-resistant vest Tuesday when he went to the house on Rockbridge or in July 2001 during a traffic stop that led to Rickman being shot in the upper body with a .40-caliber pistol. That shooter killed himself after a gun battle with Rickman and another offi cer.
Owen said KPD policy leaves the use of department-issued vests up to the offi cers.
The chief said Rickman was responding to one of thousands of alarm calls officers answer annually. Two years ago, he said, KPD answered 17,000 alarm calls.
“One half of 1 percent resulted in an actual break-in,” Owen said. “It does cause our officers to not be as alert as they could be because there are so many false calls.”
The Knoxville City Council last year passed an ordinance fining property owners $25 for three or more false burglar or fire alarms in a 12-month period.
City spokesman Randy Kenner said the city has issued 231 citations since the ordinance became law last July.
Because he’s a minor, Dixon’s criminal history remains confi dential.
Records show a criminal history for Murry that includes a federal carjacking conviction in 1995 and a state conviction for aggravated robbery during the same carjacking in Chattanooga. He was on federal probation for a 2005 escape at the time of Tuesday’s shooting, according to court records.
Johnson’s criminal history in Knox County stretches back to 2000 and includes charges of theft, assault, drug possession and multiple driving offenses.
Four days before Rickman was shot, police arrested Johnson and Murry together on Porter Avenue. Officers found marijuana on Johnson, and a search of the car driven by Murry turned up a TEC-9 mm semiautomatic pistol under the passenger seat, along with ammunition, according to an arrest warrant.
Johnson posted $3,000 bond on those gun and drug charges, while Murry left jail after posting $1,000 bond.
Matt Lakin may be reached at 865-342-6306. Don Jacobs may be reached at 865-342-6345. Jamie Satterfield contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Knoxville News-Sentinel