Warren County Sheriff Brett Hightower provided an update Friday to a homicide investigation concerning a man who was fatally shot at Eastern Heights Avenue.

Tyreque Morrison, 27, was killed by a gunshot wound to the head on Sept. 13.

A grand jury indicted two men, Leonardo Burks and Rodney Burks, on a count of tampering with physical evidence, to which they have pleaded not guilty.

The grand jury was presented with other charges to consider, but it declined to return an indictment related to the homicide.

WCSO invited media to a presentation Friday at the WCSO Training Center in response to several inquiries about the investigation.

Speaking to reporters Friday, Hightower gave details about the investigation, playing video footage obtained from an apartment building that showed Morrison yelling threats and brandishing an AK-47 to a group of people who were off camera.

A neighbor of Morrison’s is also seen in the video carrying a firearm, but Hightower said that weapon was unloaded.

Hightower said that the argument persisted for several hours leading up to the shooting.

“The unfortunate thing is that nobody contacted local law enforcement,” Hightower said. “We didn’t get a phone call about any of this, this was witnessed by multiple parties out there, but nobody in this particular area contacted local law enforcement to report that there was people threatening one another and there was potentially weapons involved.”

Hightower said a person at the apartment complex called his employer that morning to say that he would not be coming to work because a neighbor was threatening him and displaying a firearm.

Video footage played Friday showed Morrison firing two rounds in the direction of the people he had yelled at earlier, precipitating a volley of gunfire that lasted for several seconds, during which Morrison was fatally struck.

Hightower said that about 70 rounds were fired from three guns after the two shots from Morrison.

An overhead picture of the scene was marked by three areas where deputies recovered shell casings, and Hightower said that the gunfire covered a range of about 300 feet between the shooters.

Detectives interviewed three people who fired shots toward Morrison, and Hightower said investigators set out to learn what made them fire toward Morrison.

“One of the witnesses…their statement to us was that they did not present their weapons in (Morrison’s) direction,” Hightower said. “Their testimony was that it was in defense of themselves.”

Investigators from WCSO canvassed the area and interviewed eyewitnesses and attempted to obtain video footage, but the only video footage law enforcement was able to recover was from the nearby apartment camera.

Hightower said the confrontation had its roots from a series of drug-related incidents that began two months before the shooting.

The tampering charges against Leonardo and Rodney Burks stemmed from them allegedly leaving the scene with weapons used in the shooting, Hightower said, adding that one of the guns was recovered by deputies executing a search warrant on a vehicle.

Hightower said that Rodney Burks told detectives he was attempting to leave the area with his family when Morrison began firing.

“They felt their life was in danger and they responded by firing back,” Hightower said.

Detectives reviewed text messages and online chats from the people involved in the incident, but there were no messages indicating that Rodney or Leonardo Burks were told to come to Eastern Heights on the day of the shooting for any specific reason.

The homicide investigation has been a flashpoint in termination proceedings against Dep. Mark Heyungs, who was one of the first officers to respond to the scene after law enforcement was contacted about shots fired.

Chief Deputy Maj. Kevin Wiles testified at an administrative hearing earlier this month that Heyungs failed to secure the crime scene, with that and other infractions leading him to issue Heyungs a notice of termination.

Heyungs is contesting the termination notice, testifying at the hearing that the crime scene covered a large amount of ground and he was working to identify and locate vehicles that had left the scene in the aftermath of the shooting, and an officer higher in rank had control of the scene.

Hightower declined to answer a question addressing the issue, citing the pending nature of the termination proceedings.