John Derrick Townsend Jr. was 58 when he was shot and killed at a Red Roof Inn in Knoxville, Tennessee, on the evening of October 11, 2020. Friends and family remember Johnny as a loyal, generous man of faith, a proud father and grandfather, and a former Armstrong Relocation employee who loved travel, math, swimming, basketball and boxing.

Knoxville police responded about 9:30 p.m. to a report of a shooting on Central Avenue Pike and found two men who had been shot. Townsend was pronounced dead at the scene; a motel employee was taken to UT Medical Center in critical condition. Investigators say multiple suspects approached a second-floor room in what may have been an attempted armed robbery that escalated into violence. Warrants were later issued charging 19-year-old Johnathan Davis of Knoxville with first-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder; as of March 2021 he remained at large and considered armed and dangerous.

Does anyone have information about the October 11, 2020 incident at the Red Roof Inn or about John Townsend’s final hours?