Authorities said Barnes was suspected in the fatal shootings of two deputies who had been dispatched to the home Wednesday. Sgt. Chris Ward died at a hospital in Johnson City, Tennessee, after Wednesday's shooting while K-9 Officer Logan Fox died at the scene, the sheriff’s office said.
Watauga County Sheriff Len Hagaman said family members had expressed concerns about the large number of weapons in Barnes' possession. The sheriff added that he believed Barnes may have been contemplating an attack in public.
“There was familial concern that he might try to do something and he had evidently a fairly large cache of weapons and he was at the house, which we didn’t think he would be,” the sheriff said.