On October 27, 2026, in the early afternoon, an off-duty Sequatchie County Deputy was at a friend’s home helping to round up and secure animals that had reportedly been released from their fenced area when he heard shots fired. The deputy heard what seemed to be reloading of the weapon and then more shots were fired from the vicinity of the friend’s parent’s home where the friend’s father, John Dent, was known to be at that time. The home is on Hwy 28 in the Daus community. The deputy could hear the bullets traveling past him and he and his friend ran to a position of safety where he called the sheriff’s office for assistance.
On-duty deputies responded and found that Mr. Dent was not compliant, advising he is not going to go to jail. S.W.A.T. members from both Marion County and Hamilton County responded to assist with the situation and, eventually, Mr. Dent was taken into custody without incident.
Mr. Dent, 62 years of age, is a past employee of the Sequatchie County Sheriff’s Office and he is related to a current employee. Due to this, Sheriff Bill Phillips requested that the 12th Judicial D.A’s Office Drug Task Force Investigators, who have jurisdiction in Sequatchie County, handle the investigation from the point of arrest to avoid any conflict-of-interest issues.
Mr. Dent has been booked into the Sequatchie County Jail and will be transferred to another facility to be held pending a court hearing. Any further releases will be done by the 12th Judicial District Attorney’s Office Drug Task Force.
The sheriff would also like to thank the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and all of the other surrounding agencies who participated in assisting with bringing this incident to a peaceful ending.
