A man shot 12 times in the parking lot of a liquor store in North Chattanooga faced the suspect in court Tuesday.
Struggling to walk and supporting himself with a walker, Marquel Lane called his survival a miracle.
"I don't have no fear because God's got me," said Lane, 22, leaving court with his mother and two young children.
William Valentine, 25, is charged with attempted first-degree murder and assault in the shooting.
After the preliminary hearing Tuesday, which included Lane's testimony, Hamilton County Sessions Court Judge David Bales bound Valentine's case over to the grand jury and kept his bond at $101,000.
Lane told the court he was sitting in the passenger seat of a car on Aug. 12, waiting for his aunt to come out of the Riverside Wine and Spirits on Manufacturers Road, when he saw Valentine approaching, gun in hand.
"This is the time. I got this," the gunman said before pulling the trigger, according to Lane's testimony.
The gunshots missed Lane's heart and head, but hit his chest, stomach, legs and side.
Lane said he saw people watching through the glass door inside the liquor store. He fumbled out of the car, trying to run away, but the shooter caught him and tackled him, he told the court.
"I couldn't exchange blows," Lane said. "I was holding onto him. I asked him, 'Don't kill me.'"
Valentine and Lane are not strangers. Lane said he has known Valentine for more than a year, and only a week before the two men had gotten into a fistfight at a local nightclub.
Lane's mother, Sandra Pitner, who helped her son walk out of the courtroom Tuesday, said she can't believe the disagreement escalated to attempted murder.
"People don't fight like they used to," Pitner said. "They bring a weapon."
Contact Joan Garrett at jgarrett@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6601.