On Christmas Day at approximately 2:11 p.m. Dent County deputies responded to a call that someone had been shot and was taken to Salem Memorial District Hospital. The shooting victim was reported as 35-year-old Cody Givens.
Major Pabin said that upon arrival at the hospital the doctor handed him a bullet and told him that Givens was lucky. The bullet, a small caliber round, had passed through the lower-left side of Givens’ abdomen, through his pelvis, somehow missing vital organs and exiting cleanly from the upper portion of his left buttock, ultimately getting caught in Givens’ clothing.
Pabin said that upon investigation the timeline of the day was Cody Givens arrived at 30-year-old Kayla Richardson’s private residence, wanting to see his child for Christmas. Richardson and 34-year old Blake Wood were present.
When his child was apparently not there, Givens got angry and left. Givens drove to a private residence in Salem where he believed his child to be. There he got into a physical altercation before heading back to Richardson’s private residence. Around this time, Richardson was driving her vehicle the opposite direction. Pabin said that according to Richardson, Givens swerved into her lane upon recognizing her vehicle.
Richardson called Wood, who was still at her residence, letting him know that Givens was on his way back.
Upon arriving, Givens got out of his vehicle brandishing a tire-iron. Blake Wood then shot Cody Givens.
Dent County Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Curley told The Salem News that he is “aware of the incident, however, no probable cause statement has been submitted by law enforcement.” Pabin said that initially they had approached it as a possible attempted murder; however, upon closer investigation they determined that Wood had acted in self-defense.
