At approximately 10:00 a.m., during a court hearing, Tennessee Department of Correction transport officer Wayne "Cotton" Morgan was fatally shot three times by Jennifer Forsyth Hyatte, whose husband, George Hyatte, pleaded guilty to a charge of robbery in the courtroom, and screamed "Shoot him!
Witnesses claimed that Jennifer Hyatte stormed out of the courthouse, where she got into a Ford Explorer, which was later found abandoned.