Sam Rich showed little reaction this (Tuesday) morning as Hannah Grace “Gracie” Perryman pointed him out in Bedford County Circuit Court as the man she says shot her in the face last Aug. …
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Sam Rich showed little reaction this (Tuesday) morning as Hannah Grace “Gracie” Perryman pointed him out in Bedford County Circuit Court as the man she says shot her in the face last Aug. 13.
Rich’s trial for attempted first degree murder began this morning. He is accused of shooting Perryman at the Temple Ford Lane home of her former fiancé, Will Warner, who was found dead later that day in Nashville. Warner’s stolen SUV was discovered earlier that day in rural Bedford County.
She said Warner and Rich had been together earlier that evening. Warner had texted her a short time before the shooting and said he was at a family member’s home, Perryman testified.
Perryman said she left the home to look for Warner and his Jeep Grand Cherokee, which had been gone earlier, was there when he returned – but in a different location from where he normally parked it. She entered the home, searched for him and called out his name.
She testified she entered a bedroom, turned around and was met by Rich.
“He met me in the doorway. He had one arm behind his back. I was crying. He said, ‘What’s wrong?’ then almost immediately I realized I had been shot. I hit the ground. I feared that he was going to shoot me again and I prayed that he would go away,” Perryman told the court. “My eyes were closed but I heard him run down the hallway and exit the house.”
She described the shot as feeling “like a burning sensation in my face.”
Perryman said she’d had no previous problems with Rich, although a years-long friendship had cooled when he and Warner had a falling-out. She testified she and Rich had texted back-and-forth earlier the night of the shooting.
Rich’s attorney, Robert Marlow, was to begin his cross-examination of Perryman following a mid-afternoon lunch break.
Other charges against Rich in this week’s trial include use of a firearm in the commission of a dangerous felony, vehicle theft, aggravated burglary, burglary, and tampering with evidence. His murder trial in the death of Warner will be held in Nashville at a later date.
