Powell man dies in apparent suicide
A 33-year-old Powell man, Hezikiah LeKeith Wilcox, was pronounced dead at the scene just after 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Wilcox was driving a car and leaving Eagle Bend Manufacturing, 1000 J.D. Yarnell Industrial Parkway in Clinton, with a female passenger described as his girlfriend when he pulled out a handgun and shot himself, police said.
The passenger, who was not identified, was not injured.
After Wilcox shot himself, the car he was driving crashed into a drainage ditch.
“The girlfriend stated to the officers that Mr. Wilcox had shot himself with a firearm as they were leaving the facility, causing the vehicle to drive into the ditch,” the Clinton Police Department said in a statement.
Officers responding to the scene found a handgun next to Wilcox’s body. They also observed “an injury to his head, consistent with a gunshot wound.”
The Tennessee Medical Examiner’s Office was notified, and Wilcox’s body was transported to the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
The incident remains under investigation, though authorities say all indications suggest Wilcox’s injuries were self-inflicted.
The Clinton Fire Department and Anderson County Ambulance Service also responded to the scene.
Patton Funeral Home in Cleveland, Tennessee, is handling the arrangements, which remain incomplete pending the medical examiner’s release of Wilcox’s body.
