7 officers, 4 firefighters test positive for COVID-19 after Oct. 18 manhunt
Seven East Ridge police officers and four firefighters have tested positive for COVID-19, city officials confirmed Tuesday.
The officers and firefighters were involved in an overnight manhunt after the shooting of an East Ridge officer on Oct. 18.
“Staffing at the moment can be handled with overtime,” City Manager Chris Dorsey said. “If for some reason it becomes more of a major issue, we will review our options.”
Other agencies known to have responded to the incident — Chattanooga police, the Georgia State Patrol and Catoosa and Walker county sheriff’s offices — have said that none of their officers have tested positive in connection with the manhunt.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol has not returned a request for comment.
The search for the suspect in the shooting, 42-year- old Christopher John Kitts, came after Kitts was pulled over for a violation of the hands-free cellphone law.
He opened his door, emerged with a gun pointed at Cpl. Terry Prescott and immediately began to fire. The exchange took less than 10 seconds.
A photo showed at least seven bullet holes climbing up the front of Prescott’s police vehicle, two of which entered the windshield on the driver’s side.
Prescott was struck and rushed to a local hospital for treatment. He was released the following day.
Kitts, who had been out of prison on parole for domestic violence since 2017, led officers on a 14- hour manhunt into the woods near Lake Winnepesaukah Amusement Park, where he began shooting multiple times at officers with a high-powered rifle and a pistol from within the thick brush. He also shot a law enforcement drone out of the air.
Troopers with a Georgia State Patrol SWAT unit eventually cornered and fatally shot Kitts after he opened fire one last time just before 5 a. m. behind a home on Glade Road in Rossville.
Catoosa County Sheriff Gary Sisk has said he suspected that Kitts had prior military experience, based on the way in which he engaged officers in gunfire, though that has not been confirmed.
Kitts’ parole was set to expire in July 2021.