Three shootings in about eight months at the same convenience store on Wilcox Boulevard have the leaders of neighborhood associations planning an emergency meeting.
"We're just tired of all the shootings," said Cynthia Stanley-Cash, president of North Brainerd Neighborhood Association. "We have been ignored on our side of town."
On Saturday, Terrance Etchison, 27, died from a gunshot wound after a black male shot him in the chest outside the Kanku's at 3440 Wilcox Blvd. According to witnesses, an exchange took place among several men inside the store, then the men went outside and Mr. Etchison was shot.
Jamaal Byrd, 29, is charged with first-degree murder.
It was the second homicide in seven weeks at the Kanku's on Wilcox.
Timeline of trouble* June 2005 -- Despite a neighborhood petition against it, the Chattanooga City Council approves a zoning change for the Kanku's station to be built. Petitioners say the area already has a lot of crime, is under-patrolled by police and a service station selling beer will only make things worse.* January 2009 -- Police doing an underage beer-buying investigation are present at the station when a black Hummer jumps the curb and pulls into the lot at a high rate of speed. Several young men get out and begin yelling and flashing gang signs at nearby patrons, police said. A disorder ensues, which police put down. Officers find open alcohol, a pistol and bags of pot in the Hummer.* July 30, 2009 -- Anthony Blocker, 28, is shot in the chest outside the Kanku's about 5:30 p.m.* Jan. 9, 2010 -- Jonathan Lawrence, a customer pumping gas into his car, is fatally shot. Chattanooga police charged Montez Davis -- who they said is "a validated gang member" -- with first-degree murder.* Late Saturday night, a shooting in the parking lot leaves a 27-year-old man dead. Police Monday charge Jamaal Byrd with first-degree murder for shooting Terrance Etchison.Source: Newspaper archive
Ms. Cash and Robert Schreane, a member of the North Brainerd Community Council -- a consortium of nine neighborhood associations in the area -- said their organizations plan to meet today at Dalewood Middle School at 6 p.m.
Mr. Schreane also said they want politicians who campaigned on platforms of safe neighborhoods to put city and county money where their mouths have been.
Mr. Schreane questioned recent comments from County Commissioner Greg Beck, who called for a rally to galvanize leadership in the community.
"We don't need a rally to solve our problems," Mr. Schreane said. "The community has been primed and calling for help. But there's been no movement of these politicians until it's close to election time."
This is an election year for seats on the Hamilton County Commission.
Gunshots all around
Ashish Chaudhari has owned the Wilcox Boulevard Kanku's for about three years, and he acknowledges there are dangers.
"We hear gunshots around the store," he said. "You hear them in the neighborhood behind us, across the street."
Sgt. Todd Royval, supervisor of the Chattanooga Police Department's crime suppression unit, which monitors gang activity, said he believes the Kanku's has become dangerous because of its proximity to two opposing gang territories.
"That intersection area near Kanku's has one certain set of gang members there and, if you go right to the tunnels, there's a completely different set they might have problems with," he said. "It's like a fishing hole -- they know it's in the middle, so that's where they go to."
He said the owner shouldn't be blamed.
"The owner can't control the people that come to his business," he said.
Residents who live near the service station said Monday they don't know if the incidents have been gang-related, but they know there is too much violence.
Getting security
In 2005, the Chattanooga City Council approved a zoning changed to allow the store to be built, Mr. Schreane said, and then store-owner Vijay Chaudhari compromised with residents by pledging to hire off-duty police officers as security between 6 p.m. and closing.
"That has not taken place yet," Mr. Schreane said Monday.
Councilman Peter Murphy, who represents District 9, where the Kanku's is located, said he understands residents' concern.
"They should be angry," he said.
He and Councilman Russell Gilbert, whose District 5 is on the other side of Wilcox Boulevard, are requesting a meeting with the mayor and the Chattanooga police chief "to see if we shouldn't have a gun violence summit in the community."
He and Mr. Gilbert also plan to meet later this week with Ashish Chaudhari.
"I get tired of people saying we don't have enough police," Mr. Murphy said. "We catch people all the time, and after they get 11-29s suspended (a common misdemeanor sentence of 11 months and 29 days) we continue to arrest them. We don't control the courts or jail or workhouse."
Ashish Chaudhari said he heard stories about the area before he took ownership and set up precautions.
"I have a security guard there five nights a week and camera systems," he said. "It's not a place where people can't see what's going on. It's open; it's big; it lights up the whole block at night."
But Saturday's homicide took place at 10:50 p.m., 10 minutes before a security guard was supposed to arrive.
"I don't have a badge and a gun so I can stand there and shoot somebody when they pull out a gun or something," Ashish Chaudhari said. "This was someone with a problem, something on their mind and they go shoot somebody and it looks bad for the whole area."
According to police spokeswoman Sgt. Jerri Weary, routine patrols have not been increased around Kanku's despite recent incidents. She said other undercover units do the police work needed in the area, but declined to go into detail.
"We don't put out information like that because it would deter our efforts in trying to prevent that type of crime," she said.