JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — The man Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) agents fired at Tuesday night in Kingsport was accused of several recent crimes, including a Jan. 19 especially armed burglary from a convenience store, and was wanted after skipping a late March court hearing on the burglary charge.
Records also show Cody Christian, 30, was convicted and served jail and prison time for aggravated burglaries committed in 2012, when he was 20, and in 2017.
Christian, of Kingsport, was charged in four different incidents this year — two involving weapons or violence — in both Washington and Sullivan counties.
News Channel 11 reported on the Boones Creek incident, which ended with Johnson City police finding Christian passed out not far from the store with a fully loaded and chambered Ruger 9mm pistol in his waistband. Police also found a rifle nearby, which the store clerk had reported seeing Christian leave in bushes before he approached the store window.
State charges this year against Christian start with a Jan. 5 driving violation and end with a March 9 shoplifting, with the Jan. 19 burglary and a Feb. 28 domestic assault falling between.
Christian fled a Kingsport Cook Out restaurant parking lot Tuesday after TBI agents there attempted to arrest him for federal crimes. He remained at large Wednesday morning.
Tennessee Department of Correction records show Christian was released from prison on Feb. 16, 2021. He had spent more than 13 months in jail prior to being sentenced to four years in April 2019 after pleading guilty to an aggravated burglary, two separate thefts, being a felon in unlawful possession of a weapon, and evading and resisting arrest.
All those crimes occurred in Sullivan County.
Christian also served time starting in December 2012 for several offenses, including an aggravated burglary committed on Dec. 7, 2012, when he was 20 years old. He was sentenced in May 2013 to four years after pleading guilty to the aggravated burglary and also to a Nov. 2012 auto burglary, a theft over $1,000, and evading arrest.
Christian’s first listed offense after his 2021 release came when he was pulled over in Kingsport on Jan. 4 for having expired temporary tags. He was charged with driving on a suspended license and expired registration.
After the Boones Creek incident, which Johnson City officer Eric Hull wrote up as aggravated robbery not aggravated burglary, in a Jan. 19 affidavit, Christian bonded out of the Washington County jail on Jan. 24 on a $21,000 bond.
A Feb. 28 affidavit from Kingsport police states that a relative of Christian’s reported that he struck her with a closed fist outside his apartment after she went to retrieve her phone, which she said he’d taken without permission and wouldn’t return. Police did not find Christian, but he was charged with domestic assault.
The final charge prior to Tuesday’s incident came on March 15 and was related to a March 9 shoplifting at Walmart on West Stone Drive in Kingsport. Store personnel tried to detain Christian after he allegedly stole a flashlight, but he ran from them and fled in a vehicle.
Less than two weeks after that charge, and on his 30th birthday (March 28) Christian failed to appear on the especially aggravated burglary and other charges stemming from the Boones Creek incident. Other charges from that incident, in which he allegedly stole cigarettes, candy and chips after brandishing the pistol, included being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and possession of a handgun while intoxicated.
A capias for Christian’s arrest was issued April 5 in Washington County.
