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Article published Jun 12, 2008 Blount Sheriff's Office wins police shootout; Wilson is 'top shooter'
By Jessica Stith of The Daily Times Staff
The Blount County Sheriff's Office will have bragging rights for the next year after taking home the police shootout trophy on Tuesday.
After a challenge was sent out to all local officers, 22 men and women came out to show off their shooting skills on Monday at Gunny's Indoor Shooting Range, 2208 E. Broadway Ave., Maryville. They were each scored on marksmanship, shooting while moving and speed shooting.
Blount County Sheriff's Office Detective James Wilson was named "top shooter" and won first place in the competition with his overall score in all three categories. Wilson also took first place in speed shooting.
Wilson, a member of the sheriff's office SWAT team, is a firearms, tactics and sniper instructor. Shooting has also been Wilson's hobby for most of his life.
"It's a perishable skill. It really is," Wilson said. "You have to stay on top of it or it starts deteriorating."
Gunny's co-owner David Perry invited officers from any department to participate, and two officers came from the Loudon Police Department, as well as three from the Knox County Sheriff's Office.
Bobby Lankford, a Loudon city police officer, won second place overall in the competition.
Taking third place was Knox County Sheriff's Deputy Matthew Lusk, who also won first place in marksmanship.
In the shoot and move category, Alcoa Police Department Sgt. Bud Cooper took first place. Cooper said he spends more time working on "combat shooting" as opposed to marksmanship because shooting while moving is a skill needed in law enforcement. Officers rarely have a lot of time to aim when they need to fire a gun in a dangerous situation while on patrol.
Earlier this month, Perry sent out a flyer to local police departments announcing the competition. On that flier was a challenge from Maryville Police Department Capt. Mike "Mad Dog" Johnston.
Johnston taunted the other departments, claiming that local police shooting competitions stopped in the mid-1990s because other departments "got tired of being beat by Maryville."
Johnston attended the awards ceremony and congratulated the other departments on their awards. He said like any other competition, a little "good natured banter" is necessary in a shooting competition.
The 22 competitors included 10 Blount County Sheriff's deputies, five Maryville police officers, two Alcoa police officers, three Knox County Sheriff's deputies and two Loudon city police officers.
"It was nice to see people from outside of the county who were interested and came," Johnston said.
Blount County Sheriff's Office Assistant Chief Deputy Jeff French said Pat Hughes, a graduate from the sheriff's office citizen's academy, paid the $10 entry fee for each of the Blount County deputies to compete.
Perry tallied the scores of the top two shooters from each department to determine which department took home the large trophy for the year. He said Wilson and Sgt. Chuck Ford, a supervisor in the corrections facility, had the top combined score.
"We're honored to bring this award home on behalf of the men and women of the Blount County Sheriff's Office," Wilson said. "We look forward to the challenge again next year."
Blount County Sheriff James Berrong said he was proud to see how the sheriff's deputies competed in the competition and said they also enjoyed competing with other local officers.
"They did a great job," Berrong said. "It's always fun to compete in friendly competition."
Perry, who was a "top shooter" in his days at Maryville Police Department, said he was happy with the turnout on the first year of police competition at Gunny's.
"Now I'm going to give the public a chance to shoot with the top shooter in Blount County," Perry said.
He said Wilson will take on all comers Thursday, June 19, at 7 p.m. at Gunny's.
Perry said he plans on having another police shootout competition next year, and Johnston added that he would probably "instigate" it again.