More details have been revealed after an altercation between a City of Canon employee and elected official led to an arrest.
According to Chief of Police Brad Cook, the employee arrested was 54-year-old William Terrell Whitworth.
The incident report indicates Cook responded to the city’s park on Depot Street on March 6 at around 11 a.m. about an employee dispute involving a possible firearm.
Cook said he got a call from a city employee saying Whitworth had “lost it” and cussed out Councilman Eli Brown and Mayor Annie Wallace over a discussion about a probing rod.
Franklin County Sheriff’s Office deputies were then en route.
A city employee told Cook at the department that Whitworth did a donut in the City Hall parking lot in his SUV and then left.
At the city park, Mayor Wallace told Cook that Whitworth “went crazy over a pole being used to find the septic tank at the park house.”
“Whitworth told Brown f— you several times then turned to Mayor and said f— you…” the incident report reads.
A few minutes after telling Whitworth to go home, Mayor Wallace reportedly heard a gunshot but she never saw the firearm.
It was after that altercation that Franklin County deputies went to Whitworth’s residence and detained him.
Whitworth denied having a firearm and one was not found on him, and he was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct.
Cook also searched around the city shop where Whitworth had gone off to find shell casings, but did not find any.
Whitworth bonded out after the incident, and Cook spoke with him on Tuesday. Whitworth reportedly said he checked his blood sugar when he was released and it was 780. He added he had not taken his prescriptions that day.
Cook determined there was insufficient evidence to charge Whitworth with discharging a firearm within city limits.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2025/3/1289082/update-in-altercation-between-canon-city-official-city-employee