‘Road rage’ may have caused stabbing

By Jessica Stith
of The Daily Times Staff

A stabbing that occurred at Kenjo Market on Alcoa Highway on Sunday may have started over “road rage.”

The stabbing occurred at about 5:30 p.m. at Kenjo Market Number 3, 4228 Alcoa Highway. Bryan Kevin Thomas, 24, Sevierville, was stabbed multiple times during the incident, according to a press release from the Alcoa Police Department.

Luther Wayne Kennedy, 59, Cerritos Way, Louisville, was “an apparent acquaintance” of Thomas and was taken into custody as a suspect in the incident.
According to an Alcoa police report, officers responded to the report of a stabbing and found Thomas lying in the back of a 1993 white Chevrolet pickup truck with a T-shirt wrapped around his abdomen.

“I then observed that Mr. Thomas had several puncture wounds,” the report said.
Thomas told police that Kennedy “had stabbed him after a verbal altercation in the parking lot.” Kennedy had fled the scene upon officers’ arrival.

A man and woman who were passengers in Thomas’ vehicle said the “incident started over road rage on Alcoa Highway.” The male passenger said Thomas pulled into the parking lot at the market and then Kennedy pulled in and got out of a car.

The witnesses said Kennedy approached Thomas and shoved him, the report said. They said Thomas told Kennedy to “get out of my face,” and then Kennedy “brandished a knife and attacked Mr. Thomas.”

A patron at the store and another bystander made similar statements.

A Louisville man, who lives in the same apartment building as Kennedy, approached officers at the scene and said he had loaned his green Saturn to Kennedy. He said Kennedy knocked on his door and told him, “I stabbed someone at the BP (Kenjo Market).” He said Kennedy then ran up to his apartment, the report said.

Officers took Kennedy into custody at his apartment just minutes after the call. According to the report, they located the suspected weapon in his right front pocket.
Thomas was taken by Rural/Metro Ambulance Service to University of Tennessee Medical Center where he was being treated for his injuries. Hospital staff said no information was available on him.

Kennedy was being held at the Blount County Jail for investigation. No charges has been filed on Monday night.

Kennedy’s battle with drug addiction was reported in a feature story in The Daily Times on Thanksgiving Day, 2007. The story chronicled a friendship between Kennedy and Alcoa Police Officer Jeff Parsons and community support Kennedy received in trying to beat his addiction to crack cocaine.

In 2003, Kennedy was convicted for delivery of cocaine and spent 26 months in the state penitentiary. Between 1996 and 2007, Kennedy was in and out of the Blount County Jail 17 times.