A LaFayette man has been arrested for allegedly firing a half-dozen shots inside of his own home – with his wife and maternal grandmother present.

According to reports on Tuesday of this week a Hamilton County Tennessee sheriffs deputy told LaFayette Police that he was on the phone with 33 year old Joseph Travis Whittemore –  who was at his residence in LaFayette.  Whittemore reportedly was threatening suicide and had a gun.When officers arrived at the house on South Cherokee Street, they found him locked in the bathroom.

Whittemore, after coming out the bathroom and being handcuffed and searched, told police he did not have a firearm.  The officer noticed Whittemore smelled of alcohol.  He could also smell marijuana inside the residence. Whittemore’s wife said her husband fired the gun at least six times – and that she fled into another room. The wife gave consent for the officer to search the residence for the firearm, where it was located in the floor behind the front door.   

It was loaded and the hammer was pulled back.

Another officer found three spent shell casings on the bedroom floor two bullet holes in the bedroom exterior wall, and four bullet holes in the bedroom mattress.  One of those bullets went through the bed and floor and into the basement where the wife’s grandmother was located.

The officer also discovered two mason jars with baggies of marijuana in plain view inside of the residence.

EMS arrived and medically cleared Whittemore, who was then arrested, and transported to the Walker County jail – and charged with reckless endangerment and felony possession of marijuana.  EMS transported the wife and her grandmother to the hospital for treatment of a panic attack.

(Walker County Messenger)