Update: Early morning shooting in Chattanooga leaves one with life-threatening injuries

Chattanooga police are investigating an early morning shooting that left one man in life-threatening condition at Erlanger hospital.

Police say 21-year-old Jacquard M. Petty was at the 2301 Club at 2301 Milne St. near Dodson Avenue when a verbal disagreement with another person began shortly before 2:30 a.m today.

The fight spilled into the street and a nearby parking lot, at which time a man produced a handgun. As Mr. Petty ran down the street, the other man fired several shots, one of which struck Mr. Petty in the area of his left eye, said Lt. Tim Carroll, head of the Chattanooga Police Department major crimes unit. The victim was located in the 2200 block of Milne Street.

Homicide investigator's preliminary findings are Mr. Petty and a black female were involved in a verbal argument at the club and the argument continued to the parking lot where the female and the victim's girlfriend got into a fight.

The unidentified female's boyfriend produced a handgun and confronted Mr. Petty in the business parking lot of J.T. McDaniel. The suspect chased Mr. Petty across the street to the Big K Grocery and Liquor Store at 909 Dodson Ave. and shot at Mr. Petty several times, police said.

Mr. Petty continued running west on Milne Street where he fell or collapsed and was shot in the head while down, police said. The suspect ran from the scene after the shooting.

Mr. Petty had just turned 21 on Wednesday, Lt. Carroll added.

The shooting comes exactly a week after the city’s ninth homicide, in which 22-year-old LaTony Johnson was fatally stabbed in the chest.

At the 2301 Club in April, patrons told police they were robbed of cash and jewelry by two men armed with a small black revolver, according to Times Free Press archives.

Fights at several large gatherings also resulted in violence to young people. A Feb. 16 shooting at a party at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre left four people with gunshot wounds and a Feb. 17 shooting at the National Guard Armory resulted in gunshot wounds to two teenagers.

For complete details, see tomorrow’s Times Free Press.