In the early hours of a Saturday morning in Knoxville, Tennessee, a sequence of violent events unfolded, leaving two men dead, one of whom was 37-year-old Dennard Darren Davis. On May 18, 2024, the Knoxville Police Department was first called to Anderson Automotive and Towing on Cooper Street around 9 a.m. to investigate a shooting. At the scene, they discovered Claude 'Sampson' E. Johnson Jr., 55, with at least one gunshot wound.
Johnson was transported to the UT Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. It is believed that Johnson was responding to a business alarm when he was fatally shot by a suspect who then fled the scene in Johnson's black Kia Sorento.
Shortly after the first shooting, a second fatal incident occurred in the 400 block of North Broadway, which claimed the life of Dennard Davis. Responding to another call, officers found Davis, who had also been shot. The investigation quickly linked the two homicides. The vehicle stolen from the first crime scene, the black Kia Sorento, was spotted by officers. After a brief pursuit during which officers lost and then relocated the vehicle on Morningside Drive, the driver was found nearby and taken into custody as a person of interest.
The individual taken into custody was later identified as 28-year-old Robert Scruggs. Following questioning by Homicide Unit detectives, Scruggs was arrested and charged in connection with both murders. The charges filed against him include first-degree murder and felony murder for the deaths of both Dennard Davis and Claude Johnson.
