Man, under watch as possible S&S shooter, visited 2 businesses

Michael Lewis Chesney

Undercover officers tailed a suspect Sept. 3 in the slaying of a Bearden area cafeteria worker for nearly four hours - including trips to a credit union and a liquor store - before a fatal confrontation in an apartment where he was hiding under a bed.

Knoxville Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV said officers didn't immediately pick Michael Lewis Chesney up for questioning in the Sept. 2 slaying because of legal constraints and a lack of certainty that Chesney was the main suspect.

"I'm satisfied with the way my officers handled it," the chief said.

Owen said the day after the fatal shooting of 60-year-old S&S Cafeteria cashier Dan Giles, police had information on six possible suspects, including Chesney, 54. He had worked at the cafeteria until August.

"We still didn't have enough information to say he was the suspect," the chief said. "We were looking for these others."

On the morning of Sept. 3, police released images of the slaying suspect obtained from the cafeteria surveillance cameras. The images showed the suspect entering and leaving the business at 4808 Kingston Pike.

Authorities said the robber struggled with Giles before shooting him once in the chest with a 9mm semiautomatic pistol. Money from the cash drawer scattered across the floor.

Police said the robber fled without any cash.

The public responded to the surveillance photos with tips about potential suspects.

Chesney's name as a possible suspect first surfaced about 11:30 a.m. Sept. 3 through investigative efforts and citizen tips, said Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk.

Chesney's name, however, wasn't the first possible suspect developed through tips and investigation. Police obtained that first name about 10 a.m., DeBusk said.

"There were multiple calls and multiple names, even other names in other cities," he said.

While trying to check out all the names, police also noted Chesney was a viable suspect.

He had been released from a federal prison in 2008 after serving a sentence for robbing the First Tennessee Bank on Millertown Pike in 2005. He was on supervised probation at the time of the cafeteria slaying.

As officers continued to rule out other suspects as not meeting the description of the cafeteria assailant, others at about 2 p.m. located Chesney's gray, 4-door Honda Accord parked at the Walter P. Taylor Homes housing development in East Knoxville, Owen said.

By 2:45 p.m., the chief said, officers were continuously watching Chesney's car.

Owen said police weren't watching any other suspects with such diligence, but at the same time, the nascent case against Chesney was wavering. Witnesses at 4 p.m. initially were unable to identify Chesney as Giles' killer.

"We were building a case, sometimes taking a step forward and sometimes taking a step back," Owen said.

At the same time, KPD was working with federal authorities. Chesney allegedly had violated his supervised probation, prompting federal authorities to seek a warrant for his arrest.

Chesney's probation officer referred questions to her supervisor, who is out of town.

Warren Mays, supervisory deputy for the U.S. Marshals Service, said the probation violation had been sealed by a federal judge.

As KPD officers awaited the federal arrest warrant, Chesney left his girlfriend's apartment in Walter P. Taylor Homes. Officers in unmarked cars quietly followed him.

Chesney's first stop was the News Sentinel.

Cindy Beck, manager of the Knoxville News Sentinel Credit Union, said Chesney had called the credit union shortly before 4 p.m. He wanted money from the account he had established while working in the newspaper distribution division in 2008 and 2009.

Beck, who knew Chesney well because he withdrew money regularly from his account, agreed to let him in the office, which closed at 4.

While Chesney often "reeked of alcohol" when in the credit union, Beck said he "was always pretty nice and polite when he came in."

Chesney arrived about 4:20 p.m. Three female employees let him in. Behind the closed front door of the credit union, they had him sign paperwork to withdraw money. Beck said Chesney "acted a little strange" but was polite and nonthreatening.

Beck said she was shocked when she later learned Chesney was the suspect in the cafeteria slaying.

"It really scared us when we found out," she said. "I mean, he'd already shot one man. Why wouldn't he kill us?"

Officers followed Chesney from the News Sentinel to the Magnolia Package Store, 3122 Magnolia Ave. Chesney then returned to his girlfriend's apartment, Owen said.

Police continued to watch the apartment, waiting for a judge to sign the federal probation violation warrant, the chief said.

"If we picked him up and he lawyered up on us, he could destroy evidence and not talk to us," Owen said. "We had no legal authority (to arrest Chesney). In fact, some of our witnesses had been unable to identify him in a lineup."

But with a federal warrant, Owen noted officers "not only had the legal right to pick him up, but to hold him."

The chief said officers were alerted a federal judge at 5:45 p.m. had signed the probation violation warrant.

At 6:25 p.m., the first witness positively identified Chesney as the foiled cafeteria robber, said KPD Lt. Doug Stiles. That identification, however, took a back seat to the federal warrant.

At 6:33 p.m., officers approached the apartment with the warrant, asking for Chesney. The female resident denied he was there, but she consented to allow officers to search, police said.

When an officer lifted the bed skirt on a bed, Chesney fired a round from under the bed from a 9mm semiautomatic pistol at Officer Brandon Stryker, hitting him in the torso. Stryker's bullet-resistant vest stopped the round from entering his body.

Police said Stryker and two other officers returned fire. Chesney died at the scene.

Stryker is recuperating. The two other officers who fired at Chesney, Krista Shepperd and John Holmes, are on routine administrative leave with pay pending a review of the shooting.

DeBusk said officers found a hat, a torn blue shirt and shoes in the apartment and in Chesney's car that matched those worn by the cafeteria robber.

Don Jacobs may be reached at 865-342-6345.