NEW TAZEWELL, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Four Claiborne County deputies are on administrative leave, after they shot and killed a man in New Tazewell. The gunfire began when 50 year old John Moyers opened fire on deputies responding to a domestic violence call.

"He has a long criminal history." One Sheriff David Ray tells us began in the 1980's, when Moyers went to jail for killing a man. Ray said, "he's done time in Kentucky at the penitentiary and here in Tennessee at the state penitentiary, and at Claiborne County Jail."

But despite his many stints behind bars, Moyers had a more decent side. Ray said, he was "very likable when he's not drinking. And very unpredictable when he is drinking."

And Ray said that's exactly what Moyers was doing last night, when his family called 9-1-1 and told deputies Moyers planned to burn down the house. When they got there, he grabbed his gun, barricaded himself in an outbuilding, refused to surrender and starting counting down from 10...Ray said, "when he got to one he came out and he came out firing."

His family watched the whole thing as deputies fired back. "There was no other choice than to take the action they did," the Sheriff told us. What started as a domestic violence call has left one family mourning and four deputies on leave as the state investigates.