A 38-year-old Maryville woman who called 911 herself, asking for the FBI while threatening to hurt herself and others, was shot dead by Blount County sheriff's deputies who responded to her home Tuesday night. Erika K. Burch was pronounced deceased at Blount Memorial Hospital after deputies say she advanced toward them with a knife and refused commands to drop it. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has taken over the case as an officer-involved shooting, and three deputies have been placed on paid administrative leave.
The call came in around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday to the 1700 block of Creason Drive, according to Marian O'Briant, spokesperson for the Blount County Sheriff's Office, as reported by The Daily Times. O'Briant said deputies were dispatched after Burch herself requested the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. Blount County Sheriff James Lee Berrong said the complainant explicitly asked for federal help while also threatening to kill anyone who responded to her home, according to News Talk 98.7 WOKI.
When deputies arrived, Burch allegedly advanced toward them with a knife while making threats, and refused verbal commands to drop the weapon, per a preliminary TBI statement. Three deputies opened fire during the encounter. O'Briant has since denied further requests for comment while the investigation is pending, the outlet's report notes.
Deputies Gave First Aid Before Hospital Transport
Deputies rendered immediate first aid to Burch at the scene following the shooting and continued until emergency medical personnel arrived to take her to Blount Memorial Hospital, according to the same WOKI account. She was later pronounced dead at the hospital. State investigators have since confirmed Burch's full date of birth as March 1, 1988, according to TBI Newsroom.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation opened its inquiry at the specific request of 5th Judicial District Attorney General Ryan Desmond, who holds local prosecutorial jurisdiction over Blount County, the agency's release states. Under TBI policy, state agents function solely as independent fact-finders and do not determine whether the deputies' use of force was legally justified — that determination rests exclusively with Desmond. As is standard TBI procedure, the agency has not publicly released the names of the three deputies involved, a decision left to the local department, as Hoodline has previously reported.
A Sobering Statewide Tally
This is far from an isolated case. By early September, the TBI had been requested to open investigations into 30 officer-involved shootings across Tennessee during 2026, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Blount County law enforcement has faced its own share of violent encounters in recent years. In February 2024, Deputy Greg McCowan was killed and Deputy Shelby Eggers was wounded during a Maryville traffic stop, an ambush that led prosecutors to seek the death penalty against suspect Kenneth Wayne DeHart Jr., a case Hoodline has followed closely.
Once the state investigation and any prosecutorial review are formally concluded, the TBI's investigative case file could become accessible under Tennessee's public records framework. Autopsies and forensic death investigations for Blount County are handled by the Knox County Regional Forensic Center, which serves as the medical examiner for 23 East Tennessee counties, including Knox, Anderson and Blount.
Open questions remain about whether body-worn camera footage captured the confrontation on Creason Drive, the identities of the three deputies now on leave, and what crisis intervention or mental health resources, if any, were available during the initial evening response. Those answers will likely wait until Attorney General Desmond reviews the TBI's completed findings.
