Fired Legal Secretary Returns To Law Firm, Kills Former Coworker

This is a horrific situation.

police crime tapeIt’s every lawyer’s worst nightmare: an employee is fired, and then returns to the firm to exact his or her revenge. This is exactly what happened at a law firm in Tennessee late last week, and now one woman is dead after having been shot.

Last Thursday, shots rang out at about 8:40 a.m. at Casey Simmons and Bryant, a general practice firm in Jackson, Tennessee. Shurnue Bratton, a legal secretary who was fired from the firm in late March, had entered the office with a gun. When she left, the office “appeared to have been ransacked,” and Betsy Raines, an employee at the firm, was bleeding to death after sustaining a gunshot wound to the back of the head.

Bratton became a person of interest in the case, and police arrested her at 11:15 a.m. at about the same time Raines as pronounced dead at a local hospital. WBBJ 7 News has more information on what happened next:

Betsy Raines

Betsy Raines

Officers found property that belonged to Raines’s husband and a 9mm shell casing with Bratton, court documents say.

The casing found with Bratton appeared to match the same caliber that was used to shoot Raines, according to court documents.

Bratton told investigators that she shot Raines, took her car, purse and phone, and she removed the shell casing from the scene. Bratton also told investigators that she disposed of the gun used to shoot Raines, court documents say.

Shurnue Bratton

Shurnue Bratton

At her arraignment on Friday, Bratton said, “With the charges facing me and my past, I really just want to skip all the preliminaries and courts and hearings, and just be sentenced and go ahead and get it done.” She has been ordered to undergo a mental evaluation, and is currently being held on without bail on the following charges: first-degree murder, first-degree murder in perpetration of especially aggravated robbery, unlawful carrying or possession of a handgun, two counts of tampering with evidence, and criminal simulation. The last charge arises from an incident where Bratton allegedly cashed a law firm check for $943.69 at a liquor store after she was fired.

A memorial fund has been set up for the Raines family to help with the costs of services. If you’re interested in contributing to that fund, you may do so by clicking here.

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We here at Above the Law would like to extend our condolences to Betsy Raines’s family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time. May her killer be brought to justice.

UPDATE: Woman dies after law office shooting; police ID victim & suspect [WBBJ 7 News]
Former secretary charged in Thursday homicide [WBBJ 7 News]


Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. She’d love to hear from you, so feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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