DOVER — Authorities in Dover, Tennessee, launched a manhunt Friday for 53-year-old Craig Berry, a special forces veteran accused of shooting his wife during a domestic dispute and fleeing into nearby woods. A warrant has been issued for Berry's arrest, Stewart County Sheriff Frankie Gray said.

Berry's wife called 911 early Friday morning to report she had been shot during a domestic dispute, according to an arrest affidavit from the Stewart County Sheriff's Office. She said the shooting happened at the couple's home after a verbal argument turned physical, and that she was hit in the head several times before her husband tried to strangle her. She escaped and ran to her vehicle, the affidavit said, and Berry then shot at her, striking her in the neck.

The wife managed to drive away after being shot, the affidavit said. Berry got into his truck to chase her but crashed, then fled into the woods near the residence before deputies arrived. By the time investigators reached the home, Berry had vanished, Gray said. The wife has since been released from the hospital.

Berry returned home after the shooting, changed into camouflage clothing and is believed to have obtained more ammunition, Gray said. He is armed with at least one handgun and is believed to have taken extra ammunition. A blurry trail camera photo, showing a man in camouflage believed to be Berry running into the Tennessee woods in the middle of the night, is the last known sighting.

Berry served as an Infantryman and Special Forces Medical Sergeant in the regular Army from 1992 to 2016 and was deployed to Iraq four times, according to U.S. Army spokesperson Christopher Surridge. He left the Army as a sergeant first class. Berry is an excellent swimmer and diver and is in good physical shape, the sheriff's office said in a Facebook post.

"His training taught him to get as far away as he can from populated areas," Gray said. He said Berry, as a retired special forces veteran, is trained to hunker down in the woods and stay put for a while. "It's not (that) everybody's got a weapon. Usually, everybody's got several," he said. John Bidwell, manager of The Dip Dairy Freeze diner, said of the local mood: "I would say (the mood) is pretty casual." He added, "I think most people are armed."

Investigators scaled back the search Sunday into Monday because of weather and rough terrain, Gray said. Crews are still focusing on the same area near the crime scene but will expand it slightly and search in a detailed, slow and methodical manner, he said. The U.S. Marshals Service, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Tennessee Highway Patrol are assisting.

Investigators know Berry made a phone call to his parents after the shooting, and his parents have been cooperative in the investigation, Gray said. The sheriff's office said it is not ruling out the possibility that Berry has received outside assistance, and that it has no information indicating he is no longer in the area.

Gray drew a comparison to a 2018 case in which murder suspect Kirby Wallace evaded authorities in Stewart County for a week before being captured. Wallace later pleaded guilty to murder, attempted murder, burglary, robbery, kidnapping and arson. "He may be trying to get out of the area. But Kirby wasn't. He stayed in that one particular area the whole time," Gray said.