Community mourns loss of 2 men shot and killed at Reelfoot Lake; friends of murder suspect left confused Shamarria Morrison Jan 26, 2021 Updated 9 hrs ago
David Vowell
Photo courtesy of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation OBION COUNTY, TN — Friends of a Martin, Tennessee, man wanted on murder charges stemming from the shooting deaths of two men killed Monday described him as mild mannered and easy going.
David Vowell is charged with the murder of 26-year-old Chance Black and 25-year-old Zachery Grooms, who were both from Weakley County. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation filed arrest warrants for the 70-year-old man for killing the two men at Reelfoot Lake in Obion County, Tennessee, Monday morning.
District Attorney General Tommy Thomas, who serves Tennessee's 27th judicial district, said investigators found a boat belonging to Vowell Tuesday. They also towed away a vehicle belonging to Vowell at the Blue Basin Cove Lodge on Reelfoot Lake. "I know his family," Thomas said "We're satisfied he has no kill criminal history, but of course that's really irrelevant as far as where we are at this point."
Lodge owner Jerry Jones Jr. said you could find Vowell's boat docked at the lodge almost every day. Jones has known Vowell for more than 40 years. "It is confusing," Jones said. "I wasn't out there. All I know are the rumors of what happened. You know, it's still hard to believe that this kind of stuff could happen."
State and local law enforcement officers have been searching for Vowell since Monday. Jones said the crime Vowell's accused of doesn't sound like the man he knows. "In my head and my soul, I believe he’s a good fella. I don’t know what happened," Jones said.
Thomas said investigators told him Vowell approached the boat of the two victims, and an argument started. The two men were out duck hunting on the lake with a third man named Jeffery Crabtree, who witnessed the shooting. Thomas said Crabtree took the gun away from Vowell, and then took the victims for help.
Jones said he never saw Vowell return to his vehicle or dock his boat. He also didn't hear the shooting.
"He's the kind of person who would pick up any kid on the side of the road and take them hunting," Jones said about Vowell. "Those juvenile hunts, he'd have a whole boatload of children that he takes out there hunting."
