Lee Everrette Strawter

When Cpl. Todd Franklin arrived at the shooting scene Tuesday afternoon, all he found was a trail of blood, splattered on the front porch, through the doorway and into the living room.

Franklin had responded from the Walker County Sheriff's Office to reports of gunshots at 656 S. Washington St. in Rossville. But until he found Elena Marie Cox, he didn't know exactly what happened.

Cox told him she was standing near her front door around 3:40 p.m. when her husband, Quinton Alonzo Cox, got into an argument in the front yard with his neighbor, Lee Everrette Strawter, 42. Sheriff Steve Wilson later said the two men argued about a woman they both used to date.

Strawter left, but came back with a .357 caliber pistol. Police say he emptied the gun, hitting Quinton Cox, 24, in the stomach and pumping four bullets into a wall of Cox's house near where Elena Cox and her 6- and 8-year-old children stood. Neither Elena Cox nor the children were hit.

Strawter ran off and Quinton Cox ran into the house.

"Carry me to the hospital!" he apparently yelled to Elena, who took him to Hutcheson Medical Center. Later he was transferred to Erlanger hospital. Wilson said Cox was in a medically induced coma Wednesday morning.

About three hours after the shooting, Strawter left a message for Franklin. He wanted to turn himself in. The sheriff's office arrested Strawter at about 7 p.m. on four counts of aggravated assault.

Strawter's father gave the sheriff's office some more information. According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Oscar Fred Strawter said that after the argument with Quinton Cox, Lee walked into Oscar's house, grabbed a gun and walked back out.

Then he heard gunshots, Oscar Strawter said. Soon after, Lee came back inside, tossed the gun on a couch and grabbed the keys to his father's 1998 Nissan pickup truck and drove off, the elder Strawter said.