Staff Photo by Tim Barber Montez Davis leaves Judge Barry A. Steelman courtroom during a lunch break Tuesday. His attorney, Curtis Bowe, left, is defending him on the charge of murder of a man who was pumping gas at the Kanku's on Wilcox Blvd. early last year.

A 20-year-old man pleaded not guilty premeditated first-degree murder at the start of his trial this afternoon.

Jury selection began this morning in the murder trial of a 20-year-old man accused of firing into a crowd at a Wilcox Boulevard gas station on Jan. 9 last year.

Police and prosecutors allege that after someone threw a bottle at Montez Davis' car, he stopped the vehicle at the exit of the Kanku's parking lot, got out and began firing into the crowd.

One of the bullets struck and killed Jonathan Lawrence, a 42-year-old father of two and grandfather who was pumping gas at the station and not involved in the altercation.

Davis faces weapons charges along with the murder charge. He has been free on bond since last year.

For complete details, see tomorrow's Chattanooga Times Free Press.