The Knoxville Police Department has released the pertinent body-camera footage from the officer-involved shooting that happened on Wednesday, January 28 at an apartment on Tillery Road.
On the morning of January 28, 2026, KPD Special Crimes detectives were following up on credible information that a missing and endangered 15-year-old girl was inside of an apartment at the North Park Apartments on Tillery Road with 46-year-old Angel Melendez, who was not related to the girl. The day prior, on January 27, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation had issued an Endangered Child Alert for the missing girl.
Warrants were placed on file charging Melendez with concealing, harboring or hiding a runaway child, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and theft of a firearm.
At approximately 10:25 a.m., in an effort to safely recover the missing girl and arrest Melendez, Special Operations Squad personnel approached the apartment, knocked and announced their presence for an extended period and entered the apartment with the consent of the owner.
Shortly after entering the apartment, SOS personnel encountered Melendez and the missing girl in a small bedroom. SOS personnel quickly confronted Melendez, who retrieved a handgun and pointed it at officers. SOS team members Lt. Shawn Shreve and Sgt. Chris Hutton fired in response. Melendez was struck multiple times and pronounced dead at the scene.
Seconds after the shooting, the missing juvenile struck Officer Terry Crowe in the head with a large knife. Officer Crowe was wearing a helmet and was not injured by the strike.
The missing juvenile, who was safely recovered and not harmed, was charged for the assault. She was evaluated at the UT Medical Center following the incident.
A link to the video can be found here. The video release includes body-camera footage from the perspective of Lt. Shreve, Sgt. Hutton and Officer Crowe. References to the missing juvenile have been redacted to protect her identity.
The video shows graphic images that could be disturbing for some viewers. Viewer discretion is strongly advised.
The shooting is being investigated by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, per standard protocol, while the KPD’s Office of Professional Standards is also conducting an internal administrative investigation. Both of those investigations are still ongoing. Lt. Shreve and Sgt. Hutton were placed on routine administrative leave following the shooting.
Per department policy, in the event of a critical incident, the Office of Public Information in coordination with the Technical Services Unit and other appropriate department personnel, will immediately begin preparing a video of said incident for public release. The purpose of the video release is to inform the community of the circumstances that led to the incident in a timely fashion. The department strives to release critical incident video to the public as expeditiously as possible, in coordination with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.