Chattanooga: Police shoot burglary suspects in exchange of gunfire

Chattanooga police officers today exchanged fire with two men believed to be involved in an armed residential robbery off Jersey Pike, wounding one suspect, according to authorities.

Police Chief Bobby Dodd said two officers responded to the Hancock Road home after neighbors reported seeing a strange car in the driveway and hearing the house being ransacked.

He said the house was vacant when the officers arrived, but when they went out back they encountered two men armed with handguns. At least one man fired at the officers, and one officer returned fire, the chief said.

Dodd said suspect Christopher Upshaw, 25, was wounded in the neck and is undergoing treatment at a local hospital. He said Upshaw has a long record of arrests in Hamilton County.

Suspect Jermichael Nicholson, 20, was not injured, the sheriff said.

The charges against the men have not been released.

It was not immediately clear whether the suspects’ handguns had been taken from the home, Dodd said.

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

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