Albert Sturgill Jr. was pacing alone at a memorial site for veterans, flipping his middle finger to the American flag and the monuments erected to honor generations of fallen soldiers.
He was known for displaying such behavior at the war memorial and in other parts of the small conservative city of Crossville, Tennessee, due to his deep-rooted disdain for the government, resentment from being rejected by the military and possible mental health issues, his family and residents said.
“He’s real noticeable,” said Larry Doster, a longtime store owner who works near the memorial. “He’s done the same thing numerous other times.”
Sturgill tried not to engage with anyone angered by his actions, according to his niece, Crystal Sturgill, who lives close by. But on Aug. 22, he found himself facing off with a crowd.
During a chaotic confrontation with three men in connection to the obscene gesture, Sturgill, 63, was shot in the neck and later died from his injuries. The incident was captured on video and has sparked outrage from the victim’s family and other residents of the city who say his death was far from justified.
“I don’t care what he was doing. He didn’t deserve to be shot,” said Doster, 78, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam. “He had every right to object to whatever he wanted to, even though I don’t agree with it.”
Around 5:30 p.m. that day, as Doster was closing up his trophy and gift shop, he saw Sturgill across the street, walking back and forth in Cumberland County Veterans Memorial Park, giving his middle finger to the war monuments.
It was a common sight, Doster said, especially on Main Street, which is also home to the neighborhood’s businesses and historic military museum.
But this time, cars began slowing down or coming to full stops, jamming up the road, to see what Sturgill was doing at the memorial, Doster said. Some drivers rolled down their windows, but he couldn’t hear what was said. Then people started to get out and approach the man.
One of them was Eric Garrison, police and witnesses said. The 42-year-old Crossville resident has not served in the military but has a deep respect for it because his great-grandfather had received a Purple Heart, the nation’s oldest military award, for his sacrifice and heroism in World War II, according to his wife, Chelsey Garrison.
“Everything about the military,” she said, “he takes it to heart.”
Chelsey Garrison said she tried to convince her husband to go home instead, telling him he couldn’t control what other people do. But the efforts failed. Her husband approached Sturgill and told him he was being disrespectful, she said.
“He said, ‘I know this is a free country. I know you have freedom of speech, but what you’re doing is wrong. These people died for you,’” she recalled.
Another man began cursing angrily at Sturgill, she said. Chelsey Garrison said she did not know that man’s name, but that she recognized him and knew he had served in the Marine Corps.
Sturgill did not say anything back, she said.
Then, Eric Garrison noticed Sturgill was holding a wooden stick, she said.
Chelsey Garrison said her husband went behind Sturgill to try to snatch the stick when it looked like Sturgill was raising his hand. The two briefly wrestled over it, but Sturgill got free and hit Eric Garrison on the side of the head with the stick, his wife said.
“He was really frantic, trying to swing it at everybody,” she said of Sturgill.
Sturgill’s niece said her uncle, who had a prosthetic foot after an accident, carried the stick, which was strapped to his wrist, to help him keep balance and walk.
Once more, Eric Garrison lunged toward Sturgill to pry the stick away, his wife said. This time, she said Sturgill struck him on the head twice, almost knocking him out.
Everything was chaotic.
— Chelsey Garrison
By then, at least one bystander sitting in the snarled traffic had began recording.
The footage, reviewed by NBC News, appears to show Sturgill backing up from three men and waving his arms to keep them back. Sturgill is consistently backing away from them when the video appears to show Eric Garrison running off camera, pursued by his wife, and returning with a firearm with his wife’s arm wrapped around his upper body in what appears to be an effort to slow him down.
Fearing the consequences, Chelsey Garrison told NBC News she was physically trying to stop her husband of nearly seven years after he went to his car and grabbed a pistol.
“I was trying to keep him from being able to shoot him,” she said. “Everything was chaotic.”
At the time, she said she recalled thinking: “This is the end of my life. I’m going to lose my husband forever if he does this.”
In the roughly 10 seconds that Eric Garrison is out of the camera frame, Sturgill can be seen in the video still backing away from the other two men, who keep walking toward him but do not touch him. Police sirens can be heard approaching.
Once Eric Garrison rejoins the group, the video shows Sturgill pushing away one of the other men and immediately being shot. Sturgill falls to his knees and then face down as all three men appear to walk away, the end of the video shows.
The Crossville Police Department said it responded around 5:42 p.m., local time, after receiving multiple 911 calls about a fight in the roadway. Sturgill was taken to the hospital but was later taken off life support due to a lack of brain activity, his family said.
Eric Garrison was initially charged with attempted second-degree murder in connection with the shooting and is being held in jail on a $1 million bond, police said. He was charged with second-degree murder after the victim died, according to Craig Fickling, the district public defender.
He has pleaded not guilty, as his defense team explores the possibility of arguing self-defense, Fickling said.
Chelsey Garrison said her husband acted in self-defense to protect himself and others after Sturgill had struck him on the head.
“I know what his intentions were,” she said, adding that the injuries required him to receive about a dozen staples.
Crystal Sturgill, 39, said her uncle was the one who had to defend himself after being provoked by a group of people. She said the video shows that Eric Garrison had a chance to fully leave any perceived danger but chose not to.
Instead, she said, as police officers were approaching, Garrison went to fetch his gun from his vehicle, without being pursued by Sturgill, and returned to fire the fatal shot.
“He decided to come straight back and take someone’s life,” Crystal Sturgill said. “He had the opportunity to walk away and he didn’t take it.”
Crystal Sturgill said the loss has been gut-wrenching and anger-inducing. On Sept. 13, the family will hold a memorial service for Sturgill, who loved traveling by train and could guess the cost of a cart full of groceries down to the penny.
She said her uncle was known in the neighborhood for riding his bicycle everywhere, usually with his dog, Do, a male German shepherd mix, whom he deeply loved and shared an apartment with.
The niece said she had seen her uncle giving the finger to the memorial about two hours before the shooting, as she drove down Main Street. It was typical behavior for him, and she said she would often drop off food and water.
Her uncle was not a veteran. While she never directly asked him why he harbored resentment toward the military, she said it likely had to do in part with the military dashing his dreams to join decades ago.
“He wanted to be in the military when he was younger, but he couldn’t pass the exams,” she said, adding that her great-grandfather had served.
Crystal Sturgill said she did not know which exams he failed. Prospective service members must take a test that measures aptitudes in topics like math and science, as well as pass a medical exam and physical fitness test.
Her uncle was also very vocal about not liking the federal government and may have had undiagnosed mental health issues. “It was always, ‘Screw the government. They’re all out to get you.’ That type of thing,” she said.
Still, she said her uncle kept to himself and deserved to be left alone that evening.
“He wasn’t bothering anyone,” she said. “He was just expressing his feelings.”
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