Man charged with attempted first degree murder in Rogersville shooting

A Greeneville man is arrested and charged with attempted first degree murder after a shooting early Saturday morning in Rogersville. According to the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office, Brad Willliam Fortner, 34, went to the home of his ex-girlfriend Norma Peters, and shot the victim, Brian Kester. Peters told police that Fortner is her ex-boyfriend and that he had been making death threats to Kester over the last several weeks . Peters said that around 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning, she awoke when she heard a noise in her house at 230 Klepper Estates in Rogersville. Kester got up to go check on the noise and found Fortner in the house at the bedroom door. Fortner knocked Kester to the floor, at which point Peters says Fortner shot the victim several times with a pistol, and the two engaged in a struggle. Norma Peters says she struck Fortner in the head with a bat, but it did not affect him. At that point, she went and barricaded herself and her daughter in another bedroom. When police arrived, Fortner was taken into custody and transported to the Hawkins County jail. The arrest report says that Fortner admitted to entering the residence and shooting Kester. Brad William Fortner is charged with attempted first degree murder, aggravated burglary, and 2 counts of felony reckless endangerment.