On a Tuesday afternoon in Jackson, Tennessee, 35-year-old Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Degreaun Reshun Frazier was working undercover in a narcotics operation. It was August 9, 2016, and Frazier, a husband and father of two, was in a vehicle with an informant for a controlled buy of cocaine and heroin. The man they were meeting with got into the back seat of the car in the Brianfield Cove area.
What began as a pre-planned drug transaction quickly escalated into a
violent robbery attempt. The subject, Brenden Tyler Burns, brandished a handgun and, in an effort to rob the agent and the informant, fired a single shot. The bullet struck Frazier as he tried to get out of the car. He was rushed to Jackson-Madison County General Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. The fatal shooting marked the first line-of-duty death in the history of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, law enforcement launched a search for the suspect. Burns fled the scene on foot but was apprehended a short time later at a residence about half a mile away. He was taken into custody, and the investigation into Special Agent Frazier's death began.
Brenden Tyler Burns, who was 24 years old at the time of the incident, was indicted by a Madison County Grand Jury on July 3, 2017. He faced charges of First-Degree Murder, Murder in the Perpetration of Attempted Especially Aggravated Robbery, Attempted Especially Aggravated Robbery, and Possession of a Weapon by a Convicted Felon. On October 7, 2019, Burns pleaded guilty to felony murder and aggravated robbery. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In honor of his service and sacrifice, the TBI's new crime lab and regional headquarters in Jackson was named the 'Special Agent De'Greaun Reshun Frazier Crime Lab and Regional Headquarters.'
