Morristown Mother Faces Charges After Minors Allegedly Open Fire on Home and Woman

A woman from Morristown, Tennessee, is facing serious charges after allegations surfaced involving her son and other minors firing shots at a woman and into an occupied residence.

Danielle Brooke Helton, 36, was arrested on Thursday and charged as an accomplice in an attempted first-degree murder case. Court documents reveal that Helton allegedly gave her son guidance on how to carry out the criminal acts.

In an incident reported in May 2025, a couple informed police that while they were at home on Peace Drive with their two adult children, they heard several loud noises striking their house, according to the warrant. Upon stepping outside, the woman witnessed several individuals with flashlights running across a nearby field.

Additionally, a nearby resident reported hearing gunshots. When she ventured outside, those fleeing allegedly fired shots in her direction, as stated in the records.

Authorities are addressing the situation as a recent report has brought significant issues at a Knox County juvenile facility to light.

After learning about similar shootings in Hamblen County, law enforcement took five juveniles into custody. Officers executed search warrants at the homes of four of the minors, where they found guns, controlled substances and cell phones, according to court records.

After getting further warrants, law enforcement took evidence from the phones that reportedly indicated that four of the minors were near the homes of the victims at the time of the shooting. Video from the phones also showed the juveniles shooting guns near the two houses, court records said. Additionally, the spent shell casings law enforcement had found matched the guns taken from the minors’ homes, the warrant stated.

Law enforcement also found group chats and Life360 logs where the minors discussed the details of the crimes and the specific locations, as well as instructions on avoiding law enforcement, court records said. This included a text conversation between one of the minors and his mother, Helton, from the day of the shooting; Helton allegedly told her son how to unload a weapon and what he would be charged with if law enforcement caught him with a weapon while underage, according to court records.

In another conversation from June, around two weeks after the shooting, the minor allegedly asked his mother how much time he would get for shooting into a state trooper’s house and whether he could be charged as an adult since he was 17, court records said.

Court records concluded that these crimes constitute five attempted murders, for which it said the mother was responsible.

“The adult Mrs. Danielle Brooke Helton who had knowledge of the crimes being committed by her juvenile son “Z.H.” and the fact she gave him specific instructions on where to hide narcotics in her home and how to unload his firearm that was used in these crimes, makes Mrs. Helton a party to the crime and responsible for her juvenile son’s actions,” court records said.

Morristown Mother Faces Charges After Minors Allegedly Open Fire on Home and Woman

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