Jeffery Clark Evans, known by family as “Dockery,” was remembered in Knoxville as a devoted husband and a man with deep roots in his community; he died on February 20, 2022, in Knoxville, Tennessee, and he was a 61-year-old Black man.
That Sunday morning began with a call that pulled Knoxville police to The Vista Apartments at 232 S. Hall of Fame Drive. Officers arrived around 7:15 a.m. to find Evans wounded by gunfire, shot at least once, and in urgent need of help.
He was rushed to UT Medical Center, but he did not survive. In the first hours after the shooting, investigators worked from fragments: a witness said they heard a gunshot and then saw Evans and the suspect locked in a physical altercation, the kind of chaotic, close-quarters struggle that leaves more questions than answers. Before patrol cars and flashing lights fully settled the scene, the suspect had already run, disappearing into the morning and leaving detectives to rebuild the timeline step by step.
As the case moved from the immediate response into a longer investigation, the early uncertainty gave way to a name. Knoxville police said leads developed over the course of the investigation identified the suspect as Santino Robinson, 32, and that he was wanted on an outstanding warrant for second-degree murder. The arrest came after officers stopped a vehicle at the intersection of Park Street and Asheville Highway; police said Robinson initially provided a false name during the encounter, and that drug paraphernalia was found in his possession at the time he was taken into custody.
