KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The man charged with trying to kill a Knoxville police officer dropped him with the first shots and then stood over him to fire the final bullet execution-style, court records revealed Thursday suggest.
Cleven J. "Cleveland" Johnson, 26, faces charges that include attempted first-degree murder in Tuesday's shooting of Knoxville Police Department Officer Norman Rickman.
Johnson has denied the charges and said he was set up.
Police said Johnson shot Rickman, a 19-year KPD veteran, when the officer showed up around 3:15 p.m. to investigate a silent burglar alarm at 6600 Rockbridge Lane in Northwest Knoxville near the city limits. Rickman walked to the back of the house and surprised Johnson and two others -- James Willie Murry, 32, and Tony R. Dixon, 17 -- as they climbed out a back window, authorities said.
Johnson shot Rickman, who wasn't wearing a protective vest, and "when officer was down defendant then approached, stood over the officer and fired again," KPD Investigator Joe Huckleby wrote in an arrest warrant. The warrant doesn't list the number of shots.
Tim Hall, a registered nurse who gave Rickman first aid until the ambulance arrived, said he saw three gunshot wounds -- one in the middle of the officer's chest, one under his right collarbone and one in his left forearm. Police said they're still working to determine the exact sequence of the shots.
"We may never know that for sure," said KPD Deputy Chief Gary Price, commander of the Criminal Investigation Division.
He wouldn't go into detail about the shots or anything else mentioned in the warrant.
"All I can tell you is that it's a warrant for attempted first-degree murder, and that it pretty much speaks for itself," Price said.
A woman who lives near the scene of the shooting reported finding a cocked and loaded pistol tossed in her yard Wednesday, the same day Johnson surrendered to police. She said offi cers told her the gun might be the one used to shoot Rickman.
Police wouldn't talk about that gun. Authorities have said the bullets that hit Rickman came from a "smallcaliber" pistol.
Court records also indicate the other suspects, Dixon and Murry, could be making deals to testify against Johnson. The arrest warrant lists both as witnesses.
They're each charged with especially aggravated burglary. Murry remains in jail, and Dixon remains at the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Service Center.
Investigators have found "no known witnesses" to the shooting apart from Rickman and the three suspects, KPD spokesman Darrell De-Busk said. He refused to discuss the details mentioned in the warrant or whether the video camera in Rickman's cruiser recorded any sights or sounds of the shooting.
"We have the video, and it is part of our evidence," he said.
Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV said he'd visited Rickman again Thursday at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, where the officer remains in critical but stable condition after surgery.
"He was not able to talk to us," the chief said. "But we're pleased he's maintaining the status that he has."
Rickman talked with fellow Officer Bill Muhlfeld on the way to the hospital but hasn't been able to talk in detail about what happened to him. He remains sedated and on a breathing tube.
The shooting marked the second time Rickman has been shot in the line of duty. He survived a shooting by a drunken-driving suspect in July 2001 on Papermill Drive.
The chief said calls and e-mail of support for Rickman have arrived from all over the state and country in the past four days. That's on top of the residents who have lined up to donate blood in the wounded offi cer's name and the officers from various departments who volunteered their help in the hours after the shooting.
"It was really something to see the response that came from all these other agencies," he said.
Matt Lakin may be reached at 865-342-6306. Don Jacobs may be reached at 865-342-6345.