Evan Cogdill Charged After Fatal Shooting Outside Dolly Parton’s Stampede
Evan Cogdill, 24, was booked on Sunday, April 26, after a fatal shooting outside dolly parton’s Stampede in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. He faces a charge of criminally negligent homicide after Jacob Inselman, 22, died from the shooting.
Pigeon Forge parking lot shooting
Police said the two men were sitting in a car together outside the venue when Cogdill accidentally discharged his firearm and struck Inselman. The shooting happened at around 7:35 p.m., while the first show at the venue was finishing up.
Inselman was taken to LeConte Medical Center and was pronounced dead there. Both men were from Illinois, a detail that puts the case beyond a local disturbance and into a travel-related death tied to one of Pigeon Forge’s best-known entertainment stops.
LeConte Medical Center death
The charge on Cogdill is the case’s sharpest legal turn so far. Criminally negligent homicide is not a routine venue incident response; it means investigators are treating the shooting as a fatal act that rose to the level of a criminal filing, not just an accident on private property.
Police told Rolling Stone that the investigation is active, which leaves the factual center of the case with law enforcement rather than the venue. That keeps the immediate focus on what happened in the car outside the building, not on the dinner show inside it.
Dolly Parton’s Stampede incident
Dolly Parton’s Stampede operates in Pigeon Forge and also has a location in Branson, Missouri. The Pigeon Forge site combines a four-course meal, musical performances, horseback routines, and other entertainment, which is why a shooting outside the entrance quickly became the dominant story around the venue.
For customers, employees, and anyone tracking the case, the practical takeaway is simple: one man is dead, one man has been booked, and the investigation is still moving. The venue’s name will stay attached to this case until authorities finish sorting out exactly how a firearm discharged inside a parked car and killed a 22-year-old visitor from Illinois.
