Damage From Shootout To Be Paid By City

The shootout that happened on December 9th in Newport and Cocke County will be hitting the city of Newport in the wallet. Gary Ball you might recall led Newport police on a chase early on the morning of Friday, December 9th and Ball fired shots at Newport officers, who returned fire. Some of those bullets struck the building of Rocky Top Grafix. According to City Attorney James Finchum the building was hit 12 times by bullets, doing damage to the front windows and to some merchandise. The city’s insurance will not cover the expense of repair to the Rocky Top Grafix Business, as their insurance company says they do not cover damage from stray bullets. So, the City of Newport will have to pay for those damages on their own. No estimate of the cost is available at this time as they are waiting on the owner of the business to provide that estimate. Gary Ball was arrested early on the afternoon of December 9th at a home in the Bridgeport area after he surrendered.