Nashville, Tenn. – Two people were arrested Sunday in the killing of a state trooper who was gunned down during a traffic stop in western Tennessee.
The 24-year-old trooper pulled over two men and was questioning them Saturday night when he was shot twice, according to footage from the patrol car’s video camera.
At least one bullet struck him in the head, said Mike Browning, a Department of Safety spokesman.
Alejandro Guana, 17, and Orlando Garcia, 19, were “arrested without incident” Sunday at a Nashville hotel, said Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Jennifer Johnson.
Hunters found Trooper Calvin Jenks’ body beside his patrol car near the intersection of Tennessee 14 and 54, Browning said.
Authorities believed the suspects were carrying drugs and drove toward Nashville after the shooting in Tipton County, which is just north of Memphis, Browning said before Sunday’s arrests.
Browning said Jenks smelled marijuana on the driver. He said that when Jenks asked the man if he had drugs in the car, the suspect eventually admitted there were “drugs in the center console” of the car.
Browning said Jenks then went over to the passenger and asked him if he had drugs. The man said he didn’t, then opened fire, Browning said.
Investigators found what they believe was Jenks’ flashlight in a garbage can at a Wal-Mart in Brownsville, 13 miles east of the scene of the shooting. Browning said one of the suspects bought a sweat shirt at the Wal-Mart and that authorities were trying to get video footage from inside the store.
Jenks had been a trooper for two years and had transferred to the Tipton area from Marshall County to be closer to his new wife, he said.
