In a matter of seconds, Tennessee Highway Patrol Sgt. Rex Bailey learned three things while standing on Interstate 75 in Campbell County. There'd just been a robbery at a Jacksboro, Tenn., pharmacy. The suspect was heading Bailey's way on Interstate 75 northbound in a silver Subaru. And the robber had a gun. Even as Bailey processed the information the night of Oct. 21, 2021, from dispatchers and colleagues, suspect Michael Hilton, 34, of Sanford, N.C., was barreling in the dark through traffic on the busy interstate stretch. And then Bailey and Caryville Police Detective John Minor saw it: Hilton's car slamming into motorists, headlights on and heading toward Bailey on the pavement. The trooper, flashlight in one hand and service weapon in the other, fired straight into the passing Subaru's windshield. He hit Hilton twice in the head. The car smacked into his cruiser, and Hilton slumped over, mortally wounded. District Attorney General Jared Effler found after weeks of TBI fact-gathering that Bailey's killing of Hilton was justified: The suspect drove toward the trooper, giving him little choice but to fire. TBI investigative documents and Bailey's bodycam footage, obtained by WBIR, reveal the moments leading up to Bailey's decision to shoot, how other officers joined him in firing more than 25 shots at the Subaru and how Bailey responded at the scene once he'd shot Hilton. They also show how police reacted when they realized there was someone else in the car with the North Carolina man -- a distraught woman who turned out to be his wife. In the hail of bullets aimed at the driver, Emily Hilton escaped injury. At about 7:23 p.m. Oct. 21, 2021, authorities got a call about a robbery from Jamie Chapman, loss prevention officer at the Walmart on Appalachian Highway in Jacksboro. The suspect had pulled out a handgun, screaming and demanding "Oxys and money," Chapman said. That man was Michael Hilton, authorities said. Waiting outside in a Subaru was his wife Emily, authorities allege. The robber wore a plaid hoodie, a white face mask and blue jeans. The pharmacist gave him a decoy pill bottle. Chapman followed the suspect from a distance and watched as he got into a silver Subaru. Sgt. Joseph Weaver of the Campbell County Sheriff's Office was among those who responded to the store. Weaver said the fleeing Subaru WRX nearly t-boned him as it left the parking lot. Deputies began a chase that they reported reached speeds of more than 120 mph, records show. Hilton's Subaru headed out onto I-75. Weaver and another deputy tried to catch the fleeing car but lost contact and became stuck in traffic. Weaver called off his pursuit because of rainy weather and traffic conditions, including a slowly moving line of vehicles passing through a section of I-75 with limited lane access because of road construction. Hearing radio traffic about the chase, Detective Minor got on I-75. He passed Weaver and Deputy Timothy Powers, steering through the construction zone. As he drove through the zone, he could look over and see the silver Subaru. It was about 150 yards ahead of Weaver and Powers, records show. Minor stopped and got out near the suspect vehicle, giving commands to Hilton. He thought he saw Hilton holding a gun in his right hand as it rested on the steering wheel. Hilton pushed his way through traffic, and Minor, Weaver and Powers swung through the construction zone to try to get ahead of the Subaru. Minor approached Sgt. Bailey, shouting from his vehicle window that Hilton had a gun and was right behind him. Bailey was trying to assist a disabled 18-wheeler. "10-4," Bailey said calmly. Within seconds, the Subaru swerved up the I-75 lane approaching Bailey's position. The trooper shouted for him to stop and then began firing as the car came near him, passed by and continued another 50 yards or so until it struck Bailey's parked THP cruiser. Other officers joined in firing, aiming for the driver's side from the rear. "I shot right through there! He's done," one officer exclaimed. Hilton suffered several gunshot wounds; the fatal shots, the investigation would later show, came from Bailey. Officers declared "Shots fired!" to dispatch and requested an ambulance, but the North Carolina suspect was too badly wounded. His body made involuntary gasping noises in an effort to get oxygen. Authorities realized Hilton had a passenger with him, a woman. Guns drawn, they shouted repeatedly for her to show her hands and to step carefully out of the car. They demanded to know if the suspect was still breathing, if he was talking. "I don't know, I don't know!" the frightened woman said, hands up as she stepped barefooted in the darkness toward the law officers.