Area sees busy night for crime
Saturday night into Sunday morning proved to be an active time for law enforcement in the Chattanooga area.
Three men were shot just before 2 a.m. at 2193 Park Drive, where Urban Grind Cafe is located.
Prandel Reid, 26; Kenta Dozier, 28; and Royden Hudson, 26, were taken to the hospital in a privately-owned vehicle. Reid last was known to be in critical condition. Dozier and Hudson suffered gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening.
When police arrived, they determined the shooting happened after multiple physical altercations at the same location.
Not long after that incident, a group of burglars broke into a Shell gas station at 3326 Ringgold Road in an attempt to run off with an ATM at around 2:30 a.m.
“Fortunately for us, they couldn’t take [the ATM],” said Nick Desan, whose son owns the gas station.
In a video of the gas station’s surveillance footage posted to Facebook, a large white Kleen-A-Matic van is seen crashing into the convenience store’s glass wall,
propelling a vending machine forward and knocking over the ATM.
The group of about five then attempted to pick up the machine and load it into the van, but they abandoned it and hopped back into the van after about one minute. They drove off but then came back to ram the van back into the ATM in a second attempt to unbolt the machine before leaving.
East Ridge Police Assistant Chief Stan Allen said the suspects ended up not taking anything. He said Georgia authorities believe they are suspects in a similar crime in Gordon County, Ga.
To replace the shatter-proof glass and metal frame, Desan said it’ll cost about $4,000. He hopes to have it done by Wednesday.
Desan, who also owns a gas station on Shallowford Road, said these kinds of crimes are always a concern for gas station owners. They take all the necessary precautions to keep their stores secure, but area crime is a nuisance.
“It discourages business,” he said, adding that he is “a bit concerned” about crime rates in that area of East Ridge along Ringgold Road.
He’ll be meeting with police early next week, and he hopes the suspects are caught soon.