Arrest made in McCallie Ave. shooting
Chattanooga police made an arrest Monday in connection with the June 5 shooting incident on McCallie Avenue that left three people dead and 14 injured.
The Police Department announced Monday that officers arrested Alexis Lewis, 36. Lewis has been charged with criminal homicide, reckless endangerment and possession of a firearm during the commission or attempt to commit a dangerous felony.
The shooting occurred shortly after 2:30 a.m. in the 2100 block of McCallie Avenue on June 5. Police have said it’s likely there were multiple shooters.
According to Hamilton County Criminal Court records, Lewis has been previously arrested and charged with possession of cocaine for resale, assault and reckless driving.
Lewis’ arrest comes on the heels of a focused deterrence initiative Friday and Saturday in which officers were sent to areas of town that were statistically experiencing a spike in crime. In a news release, police said the initiative is part of an effort to head off potential violence. It began Friday and will continue throughout the summer.
Among other stats, the action Friday resulted in one DUI arrest and two felony drug arrests as well as the recovery of two guns, 30 grams of ecstasy pills and 20 grams of marijuana, fentanyl and black tar heroin.
On Saturday, officers made two DUI arrests, two burglary arrests and seized 19 guns, 2 ounces of meth, 5 grams of marijuana, two ecstasy pills and half a gram of heroin. They also recovered two stolen cars over the weekend and wrote three traffic citations.
Lewis’ arrest is not the first connected to the McCallie Avenue shooting.
On June 9, federal agents arrested another man, Garrian
King, 28, on a charge of possessing a firearm at the scene of the shooting.
Agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI, as well as Chattanooga police, took King into custody and charged him with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to an affidavit filed Wednesday with the U.S. District Court’s Eastern District of Tennessee, King admitted to investigators he was temporarily in possession of a rifle that was used in the shootings outside Mary’s Bar & Grill. King is a member of the Rollin 60 Crips street gang and was seen in a surveillance video carrying a rifle, according to the affidavit.
King made an initial appearance Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher H. Steger in U.S. District Court in Chattanooga. He was detained without bond.
Agents with the FBI, along with Chattanooga police investigators, questioned King, who admitted to being at Mary’s Bar & Grill, the affidavit said. He told investigators initially that he had picked the rifle up after it had been discarded by someone else following the shooting.
However, King later changed his story, according to the affidavit, saying he bought the gun before the shooting and sold it afterwards.
Friday, police released the names of the people killed in the shooting incident. Darian Hixson, 24, Myrakle Moss, 25, and Kevin Brown, 34, died as a result of the incident, according to police
Two were killed by gunfire and one was killed by a vehicle as it left the scene of the shooting, however, police did not specify how each of the three victims died.
Community members held several vigils across Chattanooga last week to honor the three victims.
The shooting June 5 marked the second consecutive weekend of violence in Chattanooga. Just before 11 p.m. on May 28, gunfire erupted near 100 Cherry St. and 100 Walnut St. between two groups of young people, injuring six teenagers. Police have since arrested a 16-yearold and a 15-year-old in connection with that case.