Man angry about Jake Brakes arrested for using gun to ‘frighten’ truck drivers, Tennessee sheriff says

A Tennessee man is facing felony charges for allegedly using a gun to threaten truck drivers because he was upset over the noise from Jake Brakes.

On Thursday, February 6, 2025, Thomas Robert Gambrel, 47, was arrested on two charges of aggravated assault, according to the Carter County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO).

On the morning of February 6, a a 911 caller reported two dump truck drivers had heard gunshots while traveling on Landfill Road in Elizabethton, Tennessee.

When police responded, the truck drivers said that they had stopped to speak to one another in front of a residence on Landfill Road for less than a minute when they heard multiple gunshots.

The dump truck drivers left the area and called 911.

“One of the drivers reported that the previous day while he was driving on Landfill Road a man ran down the roadway toward him, climbed up to the window of his truck, and told him “if drivers kept hitting ‘jake brakes’ in front of his residence that he would shoot at them.” The driver said when he stopped in the road on Thursday to speak to the other driver, he heard six gun shots and when he looked in his mirror he said the same man he had encountered the previous day with a black pistol in his hand. The man told officers that he was afraid because of the statements the man made to him the previous day,” CCSO said.

Deputies went to the residence described by the truck drivers and “saw six spent shell casing lying near the door of the residence in plain view.”

While the deputies were at the residence, a man later identified as Gambrel pulled up in the driveway in a vehicle and asked if he could help the officers. As he exited the vehicle, deputies spotted a pistol in a side holster on his person.

After securing the weapon, CCSO asked Gambrel what had happened with regard to the truck drivers.

“Mr. Gambrel stated he had stepped out on his porch and fired into his yard because of his frustration with the trucks  making so much noise,” deputies state in the affidavit charging Gambrel. “At that time, I asked Mr. Gambrel why he would fire his weapon in that manner, and he stated ‘to get them to stop.’” 

Gambrel was arrested and transported to the Carter County Detention Center. He is being held without bond pending arraignment.