McCallie Avenue victims’ names released
The fallout from Chattanooga’s two recent mass shootings continued Friday, with police releasing the names of three people killed in Sunday’s shooting incident on McCallie Avenue.
The District Attorney’s Office also announced its intention to try as an adult a 16-year-old boy who was the second suspect to be arrested in the city’s May 28 shooting.
Darian Hixson, 24, Myrakle Moss, 25, and Kevin Brown, 34, died as a result of the Sunday shooting incident in front of Mary’s Bar & Grill, according to a Friday news release by the Chattanooga Police Department.
Two were killed by gunfire and one was killed by a vehicle as it left the scene of the shooting, although police did not specify how each of the three victims died.
On Thursday evening, vigils were held across Chattanooga to honor the victims. Hixson was honored in a vigil on the football field at Central High School, her alma mater. Moss, the mother of a 7-yearold girl, was honored at the Tennesse Riverpark on Thursday evening.
Brown, a father of three, had an obituary published by his family on the website of the John P. Franklin Funeral Home.
Brown, known to his family and friends as “Buddy”, had a deep faith in God and attended the Greater Second Missionary Baptist Church, according to his obituary. He attended East Ridge High School, graduating in 2006.
“His love for his family and friends kept him close to home,” the obituary said. “Kevin’s greatest treasure was the gift of his three darling daughters…Kevin will forever be alive, loved, and remembered…”
Officers responded to the 2100 block of McCallie Avenue on Sunday morning shortly after 2:30 a.m. after receiving calls reporting that shots had been fired and a person had been shot.
Officers encountered a large crowd of people in the street with several victims suffering from gunshot wounds, according to an affidavit by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which also responded to the scene.
Brown was pronounced dead at the scene and one of the female victims was pronounced dead after being transported to Erlanger hospital. Police did not provide any information surrounding the death of the other female victim.
In addition to the three people killed, 14 others were injured. They were transported to both Parkridge and Erlanger hospitals by private vehicles, according to police.
The victims ranged in age from a 16-year-old boy to a 49-year-old woman, according to a police department news release.
The ATF announced on Thursday the arrest of Garrian King, 28, and charged him with being a felon in possession of a firearm, after he admitted to investigators he was temporarily in possession of a rifle that was used in the shootings on McCallie Avenue, according to an affidavit filed Wednesday with the U.S. District Court’s Eastern District of Tennessee.
King, who is a member of the Rollin 60 Crips street gang, was seen in a surveillance video carrying a rifle, according to the affidavit.
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 after the shooting.
According to Hamilton County Criminal Court records, King had previously been convicted of two counts possession of a firearm by a felon, one count of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to resell and one count of domestic assault. King was under supervised release from his convictions when the shooting took place, according to the affidavit.
WALNUT STREET SHOOTING
Also Friday, Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston’s office said it plans to request the transfer of the case of the 16-year-old held in the May 28 Walnut Street shooting to Hamilton County Criminal Court during an upcoming June 16 hearing at Hamilton County Juvenile Court, according to DA’s office spokesman Bruce Garner. Such a move would allow the boy to be tried as an adult.
Chattanooga police announced Thursday that the teenager had turned himself in to the Juvenile Detention Center that morning in connection with the 100 Walnut St. shooting that injured six teenagers. He was charged with six counts of attempted murder, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
His arrest was the result of a multiagency effort between the U.S. Marshals Service, the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office and the Chattanooga Police Department.
Previously, law enforcement officers arrested on June 3 a 15-year-old male suspect in connection with the shooting, and Pinkston filed a motion to transfer his case to criminal court as well.
The juvenile is being charged with six counts of attempted murder, possession of a weapon during the commission of a dangerous felony, unlawful possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment.
That hearing is scheduled for June 30 before Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Robert Philyaw.
Pinkston did not offer any comments on either case.
The names of the teens were not released due to their status as minors.
According to Tennessee Law, there is no minimum age a person can be tried for attempted first- or second-degree murder. Should the cases be transferred to the Hamilton County Criminal Court, and both teens are found guilty of attempted first-degree murder, they could face a minimum of 10 years in prison.
Shortly before 11 p.m. on May 28, Chattanooga Police were patrolling the area near Walnut Street when shots were fired. Officers responded to the scene to render aid to those injured, according to a news release by the department.
Mayor Tim Kelly, in a joint news conference with Chattanooga Police Chief, asked for parents to help keep guns out of their children’s hands, saying that the incident stemmed from a dispute among teens.
Eight days later, the second mass shooting took place in front of Mary’s Bar & Grill at 2125 McCallie Ave., where three people died and 14 others were injured, some of whom were injured by vehicles as they fled the scene.