The following is an eyewitness account of the events leading up to the shooting of Albert Sturgill in Crossville on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025.
The eyewitness account has been verified as accurate by law enforcement, based on other witnesses’ testimony up to the time where the encounter moved into the street, which is seen on numerous video recordings. Other information in the following account has been received from law enforcement, family members of  both Mr. Sturgill and Mr. Garrison along with medical records.

On Friday afternoon between 5:30 pm and 6 pm CT, Mr. Albert Sturgill,62, was standing at the War Memorial Monument on Main Street in Crossville making obscene hand gestures toward the monument, an event which had reportedly occurred in the past. According to his family, Mr. Sturgill had a mental illness and was not a veteran. Mr. Sturgill also had a history of roaming downtown Crossville and making obscene gestures at various places downtown including the Crossville Police Station and City Hall. There are several videos posted on social media of the Aug. 22 encounter once it ended up in the middle of the street but no video of the beginning of the confrontation.

Witness Account:
While Mr. Sturgill was at the Memorial Park another man, identified only as Preston (not Beaty), walked up to Sturgill and was berating Sturgill for making the disparaging gestures. “He was cussing Sturgill,” the eyewitness stated. During the Preston-Sturgill confrontation, Eric Garrison, 42, was on his way home from work driving on Main Street and noticed Sturgill making the obscene hand gestures toward the monument. He pulled into a parallel parking slip in front of the Memorial. Garrison rolled down his passenger side window and shouted to Mr. Sturgill that he should stop the obscene gestures saying, “Stop that, those men died for your freedom and deserve respect,” according to the witness.

When Garrison saw the confrontation between Sturgill and Preston, who reportedly is a veteran, he got out of his car and joined the two men in front of the monument. Sturgill had become aggressive toward Preston and pulled out a stick, about 18 inches long and approximately two inches in diameter, from his pants that was wrapped around his wrist with a leather strap. Sturgill was holding the stick as a club, or weapon, raised in his hand. Garrison also saw a knife protruding up from Sturgill’s pants. Preston and Garrison attempted to grab the stick from Sturgill but failed due to it being attached to Sturgill’s arm. Sturgill began hopping around holding his stick high. Garrison lunged forward in an attempt to remove the stick again. Sturgill struck Garrison on the head with his stick. Garrison then backed off and moved to the street at which time Sturgill followed him. (From video) Another man then entered the scene whom we have not identified.

All the men, Garrison, Preston and the unidentified man, were rushing Sturgill in an attempt to get the stick away from him. Sturgill continued hopping around in a combative (or defensive) manner with stick in hand. By this time a woman, identified as Garrison’s wife, also joined the group in the middle of Main Street with traffic at a standstill, both northbound and southbound. In a short time, the entire group of men and the woman attempted to rush Sturgill and get the stick. Garrison closed in on Sturgill, made contact and the two began swinging at each other. Sturgill then struck Garrison in the head with the stick which caused Garrison to drop down to the pavement. Witnesses said Garrison was bleeding profusely from his head. Garrison then ran across the street toward his car with his wife following him. Garrison quickly retrieved a 9mm Ruger handgun from his car and ran back to the group in the street with his wife trying to stop him. Once Garrison arrived back to the group his wife wrapped her arm around his neck trying to keep him from firing the gun. Garrison broke free from his wife’s hold, spun around and shot Sturgill who fell to the pavement. Garrison then walked back to the Memorial Park sidewalk, put his gun on the pavement and laid face down on the pavement.

It was at that point police arrived on the scene. After checking Mr. Sturgill, it was discovered he still had a pulse and an ambulance was called. Mr. Sturgill was transported to Cumberland Medical Center and then on to a Knoxville hospital. Police saw that Garrison was bleeding from his head and called an ambulance to transport him to the local hospital. Garrison was examined at the ER, and it was determined he had two lacerations on the head, one on the top of his head and one on the side of his head. A CT scan was performed to see if he had any internal head injuries; there were none. Doctors then closed up the two lacerations with staple sutures. After approximately two hours, Mr. Garrison was released from the hospital back to police who escorted him to the Cumberland County Justice Center for booking. Eventually Mr. Garrison was charged with attempted second-degree murder due to the fact that Mr. Sturgill was still alive on life-support at the Knoxville hospital. According to Sturgill’s family, doctors determined he had no brain activity but was kept on life-support until the afternoon of Sunday, Aug. 24. Mr. Sturgill was removed from life-support and passed away. Mr. Garrison’s charge was then upgraded from “attempted” to straight second-degree murder. The TBI is investigating the incident and has interviewed witnesses and examined evidence from the scene. Garrison was in court on Thursday, Aug. 28, but no action was taken. General Sessions judge Amanda Worley has recused herself from the case and another judge will be appointed by the state in the coming weeks.