He flipped his middle finger at a war memorial. Then he was shot dead.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/flipped-middle-finger-war-memorial-
was-shot-dead-rcna228826

Albert Sturgill Jr. was pacing alone at a memorial site for veterans, 
flipping his middle finger to the American flag and the monuments erected 
to honor generations of fallen soldiers.

He was known for displaying such behavior at the war memorial and in other 
parts of the small conservative city of Crossville, Tennessee, due to his 
deep-rooted disdain for the government, resentment from being rejected by 
the military and possible mental health issues, his family and residents 
said.

“He’s real noticeable,” said Larry Doster, a longtime store owner who 
works near the memorial. “He’s done the same thing numerous other times.”

Sturgill tried not to engage with anyone angered by his actions, according 
to his niece, Crystal Sturgill, who lives close by. But on Aug. 22, he 
found himself facing off with a crowd.

During a chaotic confrontation with three men in connection to the obscene 
gesture, Sturgill, 63, was shot in the neck and later died from his 
injuries. The incident was captured on video and has sparked outrage from 
the victim’s family and other residents of the city who say his death was 
far from justified.

“I don’t care what he was doing. He didn’t deserve to be shot,” said 
Doster, 78, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam. “He had every right to 
object to whatever he wanted to, even though I don’t agree with it.”

Around 5:30 p.m. that day, as Doster was closing up his trophy and gift 
shop, he saw Sturgill across the street, walking back and forth in 
Cumberland County Veterans Memorial Park, giving his middle finger to the 
war monuments.

It was a common sight, Doster said, especially on Main Street, which is 
also home to the neighborhood’s businesses and historic military museum.

But this time, cars began slowing down or coming to full stops, jamming up 
the road, to see what Sturgill was doing at the memorial, Doster said. 
Some drivers rolled down their windows, but he couldn’t hear what was 
said. Then people started to get out and approach the man.

One of them was Eric Garrison, police and witnesses said. The 42-year-old 
Crossville resident has not served in the military but has a deep respect 
for it because his great-grandfather had received a Purple Heart, the 
nation’s oldest military award, for his sacrifice and heroism in World War 
II, according to his wife, Chelsey Garrison.

“Everything about the military,” she said, “he takes it to heart.”

Chelsey Garrison said she tried to convince her husband to go home 
instead, telling him he couldn’t control what other people do. But the 
efforts failed. Her husband approached Sturgill and told him he was being 
disrespectful, she said.

“He said, ‘I know this is a free country. I know you have freedom of 
speech, but what you’re doing is wrong. These people died for you,’” she 
recalled.

Another man began cursing angrily at Sturgill, she said. Chelsey Garrison 
said she did not know that man’s name, but that she recognized him and 
knew he had served in the Marine Corps.

Sturgill did not say anything back, she said.

Then, Eric Garrison noticed Sturgill was holding a wooden stick, she said.

Chelsey Garrison said her husband went behind Sturgill to try to snatch 
the stick when it looked like Sturgill was raising his hand. The two 
briefly wrestled over it, but Sturgill got free and hit Eric Garrison on 
the side of the head with the stick, his wife said.

“He was really frantic, trying to swing it at everybody,” she said of 
Sturgill.

Sturgill’s niece said her uncle, who had a prosthetic foot after an 
accident, carried the stick, which was strapped to his wrist, to help him 
keep balance and walk.

Once more, Eric Garrison lunged toward Sturgill to pry the stick away, his 
wife said. This time, she said Sturgill struck him on the head twice, 
almost knocking him out.

By then, at least one bystander sitting in the snarled traffic had began 
recording.

The footage, reviewed by NBC News, appears to show Sturgill backing up 
from three men and waving his arms to keep them back. Sturgill is 
consistently backing away from them when the video appears to show Eric 
Garrison running off camera, pursued by his wife, and returning with a 
firearm with his wife’s arm wrapped around his upper body in what appears 
to be an effort to slow him down.

Fearing the consequences, Chelsey Garrison told NBC News she was 
physically trying to stop her husband of nearly seven years after he went 
to his car and grabbed a pistol.

“I was trying to keep him from being able to shoot him,” she said. 
“Everything was chaotic.”

At the time, she said she recalled thinking: “This is the end of my life. 
I’m going to lose my husband forever if he does this.”

In the roughly 10 seconds that Eric Garrison is out of the camera frame, 
Sturgill can be seen in the video still backing away from the other two 
men, who keep walking toward him but do not touch him. Police sirens can 
be heard approaching.

Once Eric Garrison rejoins the group, the video shows Sturgill pushing 
away one of the other men and immediately being shot. Sturgill falls to 
his knees and then face down as all three men appear to walk away, the end 
of the video shows.

The Crossville Police Department said it responded around 5:42 p.m., local 
time, after receiving multiple 911 calls about a fight in the roadway. 
Sturgill was taken to the hospital but was later taken off life support 
due to a lack of brain activity, his family said.

Eric Garrison was initially charged with attempted second-degree murder in 
connection with the shooting and is being held in jail on a $1 million 
bond, police said. He was charged with second-degree murder after the 
victim died, according to Craig Fickling, the district public defender.

He has pleaded not guilty, as his defense team explores the possibility of 
arguing self-defense, Fickling said.

Chelsey Garrison said her husband acted in self-defense to protect himself 
and others after Sturgill had struck him on the head.

“I know what his intentions were,” she said, adding that the injuries 
required him to receive about a dozen staples.

Crystal Sturgill, 39, said her uncle was the one who had to defend himself 
after being provoked by a group of people. She said the video shows that 
Eric Garrison had a chance to fully leave any perceived danger but chose 
not to.

Instead, she said, as police officers were approaching, Garrison went to 
fetch his gun from his vehicle, without being pursued by Sturgill, and 
returned to fire the fatal shot.

“He decided to come straight back and take someone’s life,” Crystal 
Sturgill said. “He had the opportunity to walk away and he didn’t take 
it.”

Crystal Sturgill said the loss has been gut-wrenching and anger-inducing. 
On Sept. 13, the family will hold a memorial service for Sturgill, who 
loved traveling by train and could guess the cost of a cart full of 
groceries down to the penny.

She said her uncle was known in the neighborhood for riding his bicycle 
everywhere, usually with his dog, Do, a male German shepherd mix, whom he 
deeply loved and shared an apartment with.

The niece said she had seen her uncle giving the finger to the memorial 
about two hours before the shooting, as she drove down Main Street. It was 
typical behavior for him, and she said she would often drop off food and 
water.

Her uncle was not a veteran. While she never directly asked him why he 
harbored resentment toward the military, she said it likely had to do in 
part with the military dashing his dreams to join decades ago.

“He wanted to be in the military when he was younger, but he couldn’t pass 
the exams,” she said, adding that her great-grandfather had served.

Crystal Sturgill said she did not know which exams he failed. Prospective 
service members must take a test that measures aptitudes in topics like 
math and science, as well as pass a medical exam and physical fitness 
test.

Her uncle was also very vocal about not liking the federal government and 
may have had undiagnosed mental health issues. “It was always, ‘Screw the 
government. They’re all out to get you.’ That type of thing,” she said.

Still, she said her uncle kept to himself and deserved to be left alone 
that evening.

“He wasn’t bothering anyone,” she said. “He was just expressing his 
feelings.”


-- 
November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump.  We look 
forward to America being great again.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that 
stupid people won't be offended.

Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.

Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama 
/ Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the 
The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood 
queer liberal democrat donors.