Shocking video shows man shooting girlfriend's son in ear

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This series of images shows a shooting in Tennessee that was captured on video. Jeffrey Scott West allegedly shot his girlfriend’s son Kyle W. Spitze in the ear during an altercation on Aug. 25 in Friendsville, Tennessee. Spitze suffered a graze wound to the ear. West was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. (Video posted to Billy Ragland/X account)

A shocking video showing a man shooting his girlfriend’s son in the ear is making the rounds on social media.

It shows the altercation from the view of the victim, Kyle W. Spitze, who was recording from his phone. The incident occurred around 8:15 p.m. Aug. 25 in Friendsville, Tennessee, about 20 miles southwest of Knoxville. Billy Ragland, a firearms instructor, posted the video on X, the website formerly known as Twitter, and it has amassed over 22 million views.

It begins with Spitze, 24, sitting on his bed in his bedroom when his mother’s boyfriend, Jeffrey Scott West, comes into the door frame and points a gun at him.

“I’m getting ready to blow his brains out right f—— now,” West, 68, exclaims.

A woman, Spitze’s mother and West’s girlfriend, intervenes. She pulls West away from the door.

“Blowing my brains out?” Spitze shouts somewhat sarcastically.

This causes West to return to the door and again point the gun at Spitze. The woman tells West to “stop it” and she again pulls him away and closes the door.

“Shoot me and I guarantee you you will go to jail for life,” Spitze said.

Spitze then gets up and walks out of his bedroom where his mother and West are standing a few feet away.

“Point that gun at me again,” Spitze said.

That’s when West fires, the flash of the muzzle visible on the video. Spitze spins around, and blood starts dripping to the floor from the bullet grazing his right ear. He then staggers to a door that leads to the patio with his mother screaming at West “Oh my God. You’re going to jail.” The video ends.

The Blount County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release it responded and met with Spitze and his mother outside. Paramedics tended to Spitze’s injury and transported him to the hospital. With West still in the house, the sheriff’s crisis negotiation and SWAT teams responded to try to coax him outside. They tried to speak with him through a loudspeaker and used diversionary devices in an attempt to get him into custody. About two hours later a police dog went into the home and found West dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.