Great Smoky Mountains National officials announced that Sanford Lethco, 29, of Sevier County, confessed to Park investigators that the gunshot wounds he received to his leg on Friday, Sept. 7, were sustained in an incident occurring outside of the Park boundaries, in Sevier County.
“Park investigators have been working with the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office who has now taken the lead on the shooting case,” Chief Ranger Clay Jordan reported.
Lethco sustained and was treated for two gunshot wounds to the lower leg which he originally claimed to have received while hiking in the park, off trail, in the Cosby area. He was flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center where he was treated, and later released, for his injuries.
– NPS
