INFORMATION NEEDED
Anyone who has any information about Curtis Allen Tracy, described as a 6 foot, 4 inch black man weighing about 175 pounds with black and and brown eyes, is asked to contact Detective Josh Rhodes with the Athens Police Department at 423-744-2739 or their local law enforcement agency.
Athens, Tenn., police are looking for a man in connection with a shooting Wednesday night that left another man with a bullet wound in his hip.
Detective Josh Rhodes said Friday that 23-year-old Curtis Allen Tracy is being sought on warrants issued Thursday charging him with attempted first-degree murder. Tracy was confirmed in March 2013 as a member of the Rolling 60 Crips gang.
Tracy was identified by a number of witnesses as the gunman in the shooting on Cleveland Avenue that wounded 32-year-old Athens resident Markeece Moody, according to a police report on the incident.
Two witnesses said they were in a car traveling along Cleveland Avenue when they saw Moody and Tracy get into a heated argument that led to three to five shots being fired.
According to statements, two female witnesses said they were giving another man a ride and were driving along Cleveland Avenue when Moody pulled in front of their vehicle in a blue Nissan Maxima.
Moody reportedly pulled one of the women from the other car by her hair and started to "scream" at her, the report states.
Another man got out of the car the women were in and started to approach Moody, at which time a third man "came around the vehicle and began to fire shots at Mr. Moody," the report states.
The women fled for safety. The man riding with them gave a similar account, and all identified the assailant at "Tracy McCowan" and said he was also known as "Biff."
When a witness was able to produce a Facebook photo of "Biff," it quickly rang a bell with detective Rhodes.
"I immediately recognized the male subject in the photo as Mr. Curtis Tracy. I knew Mr. Tracy from a previous investigation where he has been named as a suspect," Rhodes states in the report.
As the initial investigation continued, police got another call that Moody had showed up at Starr Regional Medical Center with a bullet wound.
Moody described the incident with the woman from the car as an "argument" and told police he was shot by "Biff."
Rhodes said Knox County Sheriff's Office deputy Nathan Dotson told officers in Athens that he knew "Biff," had gone to high school with him and knew him from his incarceration at the Knox County Jail.
Dotson also identified "Biff" as Curtis Allen Tracy.
A criminal history shows Tracy has a conviction in Knox County for sale and delivery of marijuana from 2011. Tracy also was picked up in Athens on a Knox County theft warrant in June 2014, Rhodes said.
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or twitter.com/BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben.benton1 or 423-757-6569.