A Tennessee man is facing charges after he allegedly opened fire on a family that was sledding in the snow, purporting that the family was on his property.
Benjamin Cook is facing six counts of aggravated assault in connection with the shooting, according to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office. Additional charges could be filed pending the outcome of the investigation.
The sheriff’s office said deputies responded to the 6300 block of Stoney River Drive on Friday following a report that a man was shooting at a family of six playing outside in the snow.
Preliminary information from the scene showed that the parents and their four children walked down the street to go sledding down a hill in their neighborhood, deputies said.
But at around 11:30 a.m., the family said they heard gunshots coming from the direction of a house down the hill near the 10400 block of Birchwood Pike. The mother said she observed snow fly up from the ground just a couple of feet from her one-year-old son.
The parents immediately looked in the direction of where the shots were coming from and yelled at a man, later identified as Cook, to stop shooting. The man claimed the family was on his property, but the family responded that they were not on his property.
The family then gathered their belongings and went home before reporting the incident to authorities.
Deputies responded to the shooter’s house and spoke to Cook. They also obtained pictures from a neighbor showing Cook in matching clothing walking through the woods carrying a black rifle slung across his back.
Cook was then arrested on aggravated assault charges.
An investigation also revealed that the family was not on Cook’s property when he began shooting.
A search warrant was executed at Cook’s home, where several rifles were found inside.
