The family of Blountstown Middle School coach Tranum McLemore is demanding an independent investigation of his death from multiple gunshot wounds.
As reported in last week’s edition of The County Record, McLemore, 35, died following an alleged domestic dispute with his wife, Winter, at their home on Hoecake Road in Bristol. The Liberty County Sheriff’s Office immediately concluded the death was a suicide. However, family members question how a suicide could be determined so quickly when six shots were fired from McLemore’s Ruger 9MM semi-automatic pistol. He was pierced by bullets in three places - his shoulder, leg and head. Not a typical suicide.
According to the LCSO, the couple was in the midst of marital problems when a discussion over divorce plans turned violent, with Tranum allegedly choking Winter. Around 9 p.m., she fled the home and made the five minute drive to the Sheriff’s Office.
“She had to leave to save her life," Sheriff Conyers remarked last week, adding Winter thought she heard two gunshots as she was leaving.
Inside the home were the couple’s three daughters, ages 2, 5, and 10, who were unharmed. As deputies arrived on scene, Winter’s sister drove up and took the girls.
The whole scenario has Tranum’s brother, Klenton, baffled. With the McLemore home near a half dozen other houses, he questions why Winter didn’t run to a neighbor to call 911 and summon help.
“She never called 911, she drove straight to the Sheriff’s Office and told them that she was abused by my brother,” says Klenton. “If someone you cared about just shot himself, wouldn't you call for an ambulance? Would you call your sister, but not medical help? Would you leave your three children inside with a person that you thought just ‘lost it’?”
Klenton says Tranum was an athlete who was accustomed to high pressure situations, causing him to doubt he snapped. He says the divorce plans were nothing new and his brother had already made living arrangements. “Tranum related that he was happy because he had it worked out where he could still see his kids most of the time.”
Tranum wasn’t someone who pulled a gun out on a frequent basis either, according to Klenton. In fact, he says the Ruger was one he was using to teach Winter how to shoot, noting he had enrolled her in a gun safety course just a few months ago.
Also troubling to Klenton is the fact his brother made comments on more than one occasion to more than one person that he would never take his own life.
Over the past week, Klenton has contacted Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office, Governor Rick Scott’s office and several other agencies seeking assistance. Because Winter McLemore has an uncle, Inv. Dussia Shuler, and great-uncle, Col. Brigham Shuler, employed by the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, he feels there is a conflict of interest in the case and wants an independent investigation. Both have reportedly been involved in the case.
The County Record contacted the LCSO Monday and was told by the spokesperson (Winter’s great-uncle) the case was being closed by their agency based on initial verbal reports from FDLE and the Medical Examiner’s Office. Final reports from these two agencies will not be released for up to eight weeks. However, the spokesperson says, upon receipt, they will be added as supplemental reports and placed in the case file. Does this mean the case is closed? The County Record asked. “It is in my mind,” the spokesperson responded.
A message left for Sheriff Donnie Conyers, as well as one for Winter McLemore, were not returned as of press time late Tuesday morning.
On behalf of his family, Klenton has vowed to get to the truth, no matter where it leads. “If I see evidence that proves my suspicions wrong, I will admit it and apologize,” he says.
Klenton asks anyone with information on this case to call him at 334-701-3645.
I don't have a problem with another bureau doing an investigation... I believe Winter is innocent and a VICTIM!
You can't have a REAL investigation with the family, Klenton, interviewing the "witnesses". How does he get away with posting his number?
Are we really supposed to believe that after choking her half to death, she managed to get away and run out the door, with no gun involved, and then after letting her go he goes and gets the gun and shoots at himself, misses a few and hits a few, and finally shoots himself in the head? People who intend to kill themselves put the gun to their head, under the chin, in the mouth, or maybe to the chest. NOT to the arm, or thigh (and missing!) or elsewhere.
A much more likely scenario: he assaulted her, she gets to the gun (it was hers, or at least she was trained to use it, claims the brother) he's holding on to her, perhaps choking her, she in self defense fires wildly, misses some and hits some. This means the gun is very close to him when it fires, giving the "closer than 8 inches" scenario they claim from the gunpowder residue. Just because it was close doesn't mean he fired it.
Now, here's the catch: what happened next? Did he go mad and try to kill her? Did she finish him off? Did he fall to the floor, wounded? Did she then leave the gun and her maddened, drunken, wounded-bear of a husband AND her kids in the house and just leave?
Other, more extreme, scenarios are certainly easy to imagine, but I won't speculate further. I just think it's too hard to believe he fired all those shots. Whether in what sounds like perfectly justifiable self-defense, or not, she or someone else had to have fired at least some of those ill-aimed shots. Just my (completely unrelated anybody, used to be friends with all parties, would never have said a bad word about any of them) two cents.
Lanae, you are absolutely correct. You cannot have a REAL investigation with the FAMILY interviewing all of the the "witnesses". The only thing you left out is that your statement should include ALL family members, not just Tranum's. One would assume that maybe... just maybe that would create a slight conflict of interest in the matter. Little bit of a double standard don't you think, counselor?
Maybe your extensive background in the law, death investigations, the human body under stress, and forensics can shed a little light on how in the hell a man shoots himself three times. I'll stand by and wait for your informed assessment.