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Two charged in Saturday shooting

Two persons were arrested Sunday in relation to a shooting Saturday afternoon in Anderson County at a Clinton Highway residence. Jacob Lynn Rutherford, 23, Oak Ridge, and Maggie Taylor Atterberry, 24, Clinton, face charges stemming from a shooting that left two men wounded.

Rutherford faces three counts of attempted murder. He allegedly shot Nathan Lynn Phillips, 36, Clinton, and William Ernest Foster, 34, Clinton.

Rutherford also allegedly shot at, and missed, a third person, Brenda Foster, owner of the house, as he fled the scene of the shooting Saturday afternoon.

Anderson County Sheriff’s deputies responded at 5:24 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, to a call at Bread Box on Edgemoor Road in Claxton that a wounded man (Phillips) was in a car. An unidentified person was transporting Phillips to the hospital, but had stopped at the Bread Box convenience store to call an ambulance.

Phillips’ wounds were more serious than originally thought, a press release from the Sheriff’s Office reported. Phillips was transported to the University of Tennessee Medical Center by Anderson County EMS.

The owner of the house, Brenda Foster, said she believed Phillips had been shot twice in the arm.

Deputies then went to the home at 3008 Clinton Highway, where the alleged shooting happened, and found William Ernest Foster had also been shot.

After questioning those at the house it was determined Rutherford allegedly shot at, and missed, Brenda Foster, owner of the house, as he fled the scene of the shooting Saturday afternoon.

Foster, who is the Classifieds Manager of The Courier News, is the mother of William Ernest Foster. She said her son was shot in the arm as well.

He was transported to the University of Tennessee Medical Center by Anderson County EMS, where he was treated and released.

Brenda Foster said Monday morning that “a group of people” were in the back room of her house Saturday afternoon when she heard the sound of breaking glass and a “pop” sound. Brenda Foster said she went to the room to see what the noise was, when she saw a figure running out of the room past her.

She said then heard another “pop.”

“I felt the breeze from the bullet on the side of my head,” Foster said.

The Sheriff’s Office release said there were four other people at the house when the shooting happened.

Rutherford and Atterberry were both arrested at a “mobile home of a relative” without incident, the release said.

Rutherford faces three counts of attempted murder. As of Tuesday morning he was still in the Anderson County Detention Center waiting arraignment.

Atterberry was charged with three counts of accessory after the fact and has been released on bond.

The Sheriff’s Office press release said the incident is still under investigation, but that additional charges against Rutherford “are forthcoming” after the investigation is complete.