Sun Photo by Phil Gentry Firefighters work at the site of a mobile home fire early Sunday. The fire is being investigated.
Monday, September 22, 2008
(Last modified: 2008-09-22 10:29:24)
 

Source: The Greeneville Sun

By BILL JONES

Staff Writer

A Greystone Road mobile home where a young boy was wounded as he slept in a drive-by shooting early Sunday, Sept. 14, burned early Sunday, Sept. 21.

Sheriff Steve Burns said on Sunday that authorities don't know if the fire that destroyed the mobile home at 7095 Greystone Road is connected to the incident a week earlier in which Gabriel Hensley, 3, was wounded in one of his legs by one of several gunshots that were fired into the mobile home.

But Burns said an investigation is being conducted in an effort to determine if there is any connection.

Investigators from the state Fire Marshal's officer are expected to arrive as early as Tuesday to take part in the fire investigation.

A report filed by Sheriff's Sgt. Glenna Estepp at 2:39 a.m. Sept. 21 said the three-bedroom double-wide mobile home owned by Taylor Jones was valued at $35,000.

Her report indicated that the fire was discovered by a neighbor who heard the sound of a car horn, went outside to investigate and saw smoke coming from the mobile home's roof.

The report noted that neither Taylor Jones, her daughter, Clara Burnell nor John Hensley, another resident of the mobile home, were present at the time of the fire.

Jeff Wilburn, chief of the Camp Creek Volunteer Fire Department, said his department and units of the Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department were dispatched to the mobile home after a neighbor discovered that it was on fire shortly before 2:30 a.m. Sunday.

The rear of the trailer was on fire when the first firefighters reached the scene, Wilburn said. He said the flames spread quickly throughout the mobile home.

"The outside walls are still standing, but the entire roof has collapsed," Wilburn said.

He said that about 30 firefighters and six fire trucks from the two departments took part in fighting the blaze.

Firefighters remained on the scene until shortly before 8 a.m. Sunday, Wilburn said.

Sheriff's deputies were still guarding the fire scene this morning.

Case Background

Gabriel Hensley, who was wounded in the Sept. 14 shooting, was flown to the Johnson City Medical Center, where he underwent surgery and remained until being released on Tuesday, Sept. 16, officers said last week.

Two adults and Gabriel's older brother who had been inside the mobile home on Sept. 14 escaped injury.

No one was inside the mobile home when the fire broke out early Sunday, firefighters said.

Sheriff Burns said the injured boy and his brother did not reside at the mobile home and were visiting there when the Sept. 21 shooting took place.

An investigation of the shooting is continuing, Sheriff Burns said on Sunday. But the sheriff said he was not at liberty to reveal details of that investigation.

During a Sunday telephone interview, Sheriff Burns said he has requested that investigators from the state Fire Marshal's office conduct an investigation of the mobile home fire.

"We have secured the scene and plan to work with the state Fire Marshal's office this week in an effort to determine what caused the fire," Burns said.

He noted that no one was home at the time the fire broke out early Sunday and that no injuries resulted.

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