On February 04, 2025, Joshua Rankin, 26, pled guilty to the charge of
Assault with a Deadly Weapon Inflicting Serious Injury, announced Andrew
Murray, District Attorney for Henderson, Polk, and Transylvania Counties.
Superior Court Judge William Stetzer presided over the Henderson County
Criminal Superior Court Session and sentenced the defendant.
According to the investigation and court trial records, in the early morning
hours of February 23, 2024, former Henderson County Sheriff’s Deputy
Joshua Rankin was at his Brittany Place Apartments residence, located in
Henderson County, when he was awakened by a disturbance outside. The
same disturbance caused a resident in the same apartment building to take
a video of the ensuing incident. Rankin went out on his third story
apartment balcony with his personal firearm in hand to investigate the
disturbance. Rankin observed a 20+ year old adult male banging on his
service-issued vehicle’s windshield and manipulating the driver side mirror.
Rankin’s service vehicle was backed into a parking spot across a standard
two-way thoroughfare between two apartment buildings.
Several times,
Rankin proceeded to loudly announce that he was a deputy sheriff and
commanded the adult male to get away from the vehicle. The male
continued manipulating and twisting the service-issued vehicle’s mirror,
without looking up or giving any indication that he heard or understood the
commands. Rankin then proceeded to discharge a round at the male
subject, which appeared from the video to ricochet in front of the adult
male.
The adult male did not react to the gunshot and continued to
manipulate the side view mirror and bang on the windshield. Rankin then
yelled several additional commands before discharging a second round
from his balcony with his personal pistol. The second round struck the adult
male in his upper arm, causing him to flinch, look at his arm, and then
calmly walk away. The Hendersonville Police Department and the
Henderson County Sheriff’s Office responded to multiple 911 calls reporting
the incident. Upon arrival, law enforcement quickly determined that a
Henderson County Sheriff’s Deputy was involved in the incident and had
discharged his personal weapon. A decision was immediately and
appropriately made to contact the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) to
investigate the incident.
SBI agents immediately responded and assumed
the lead role in the investigation.
SBI agents quickly located the male, who was shot in the parking lot at his
residence, along with his mother and an adult male friend. The bullet that
struck the male went through the fleshy part of his upper arm before
entering the service-issued vehicle’s door. The ensuing SBI investigation
revealed that the individual struck by the bullet was an autistic non-verbal
adult male.
The investigation revealed that the victim was most likely
suffering from a medical episode, which caused him to punch and strike out
at the service vehicle’s windshield and side mirror.
After a preliminary investigation of the scene and interviewing Deputy
Rankin, the lead investigator, Special Agent Brett Anders, concluded that
lethal force was not warranted. Agent Anders determined that Deputy
Rankin’s life was not endangered nor the lives of others possibly in the
vicinity. Rankin was arrested on scene and taken to the Henderson County
Magistrates Office, where he received a bond that he was able to tender
the same day. Rankin was terminated by Henderson County Sheriff Lowell
Griffin, earlier on the same day.
Judge Stetzer sentenced the defendant to a minimum term of 15 months
and a maximum term of 30 months, suspended, and placed Rankin on 36
months of supervised probation. As a convicted felon, Rankin will no longer
be able to legally possess a firearm and will be prohibited from serving as a
sworn law enforcement officer.
District Attorney Andrew Murray personally handled the prosecution of this
case, and Assistant District Attorney Michael Van Buren handled the plea
hearing. District Attorney Andrew Murray thanks SBI Special Agent Brett
Anders and the SBI for their professional and thorough investigation of this unfortunate incident.
