COLUMBIA, Tenn. (WKRN) — On Friday, new details were revealed about a deadly shooting in a Columbia neighborhood, leaving neighbors in shock and mourning.

The spouses of both victims took the stand during a preliminary hearing for Byron Childers. Childers has been accused of shooting three people back in May — two of them died, including 46-year-old John Bidle and 51-year-old Stacie Wright. The third victim — Mandu Johnson — survived, but sustained injuries to his hip.

During the hearing, John's widow Amy Bidle described the accused shooter as a friendly neighbor. She went into detail about how her husband and Childers would often talk about boating, say hello, and wave to each other in the neighborhood.

However, the testimony painted a picture of anything but a friendly atmosphere. Inside the Maury County Courthouse, Childers sat and listened.

"This is my husband's mechanic shirt that he used to always wear when he worked as a mechanic ... I've worn it every day since," Amy said on the witness stand. "It just makes me feel like he is still here with me."

Amy described her husband's last moments from her perspective.

"Mr. Childers turned around and looked at me and said that it's all going to be okay that we're going to own all of this and do I trust him," Amy said.

According to court documents, Childers was walking down Somerset Lane with a rifle when he shot Bidle while calling him a demon. Childers reportedly shot Bidle multiple times as he was lying in the roadway while shouting, “Demon from hell” and “It's safe now.”

"He walked backed over by John, spit on his body, and then as I was talking to the 911 operator, he was yelling, telling the operator that we had everything that we needed [and that] we didn't need any help," Amy said. "And I said, 'Yes, I do! My husband is laying here and bleeding.'"

Then she testified that Childers turned his rage toward her.

"He came at me. He shoved me down, and I was getting frustrated because I didn't know what was going on," Amy said. "And he shoved a vape pen down my mouth and told me just to breathe, everything was going to be okay."

Shortly thereafter, Stacie and her husband Sean Wright were alerted to a commotion outside by their doorbell camera.

"I could hear her unlock the door," Sean said. "...It just sounded — like immediately when she opened up the door, I heard a lot of gunshots."

The two were resting and getting ready to go out for dinner later that night to celebrate their wedding anniversary. When the gunshots were heard, Wright's husband described seeing "bullet holes in the wall, and all the sort of smoke from the drywall."

On the witness stand, Wright wore a button with his wife's photo. He appeared to become tearful talking about his wife's wounds, and how he used towels to try and stop the bleeding.

"She was breathing very heavily at the time, and I was starting to see some blood, and she wasn't — she really wasn't communicating," Sean said.

Stacie was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she died during surgery.

A mental health evaluation has been ordered for Childers, who remains in custody.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/spouses-deadly-columbia-shooting-victims-testify/