‘Tennessee three’ to visit White House next week

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three Tennessee lawmakers who faced expulsion votes after participating in protests over last month’s school shooting in Nashville will visit the White House to meet with President Joe Biden on Monday.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced the visit on Wednesday. She said Biden was “proud” and “appreciative” to see the three state representatives calling for stronger gun restrictions, particularly a ban on so-called assault weapons.

The president spoke with the lawmakers to thank them “for speaking out and for standing their ground, and being very clear about what’s needed to protect their communities,” Jean-Pierre said.

The expulsion votes added a level of political drama and controversy to the violence at The Covenant School, where three children and three adults were killed.

Two of the lawmakers — Rep. Justin Pearson and Rep. Justin Jones, both Black — were expelled by the Republican-controlled legislature. The third, Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white, was not.

Authorities: Deputies shoot armed man

BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — Deputies who were called to check on an unconscious man in a truck parked at a Dollar General store in East Tennessee fatally shot him when he produced a gun during an encounter Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.

Deputies with the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office made contact with the man at the store in Bristol and he refused to leave the vehicle, according to a statement from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

“At some point during the encounter, the man produced a gun, resulting in two deputies firing shots, striking him,” the statement said. The man died at the scene. No deputies were injured.