Briston SmithA man who is now in jail in Catoosa County, Ga., is suspected of killing 19-year-old Charles Holsey in Chattanooga on Monday, according to the Chattanooga Police Department.
Chattanooga police are in the process of bringing Briston Smith, 18, from the North Georgia jail back to Chattanooga to face charges in Holsey's death. He is charged with felony murder, especially aggravated robbery and conspiracy to commit especially aggravated robbery, police said.
Smith is jailed in Catoosa on three drug charges: Possession of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and possession of tools for the commission of a crime, according to Catoosa County records.
Investigators believe Holsey was shot once after he went to 310 Sylvan St. for a drug deal and got into a fight around 8:45 p.m. Monday.
The teenager got into a vehicle with another person and left, police said. But Holsey made it only about a third of a mile before his vehicle crashed into another vehicle at 709 N. Market St.
Emergency responders took Holsey to the hospital, where he died from the gunshot wound.
Catoosa County Sheriff Gary Sisk said his deputies contacted Smith at the request of Chattanooga police because he was a suspect in the homicide, and the drug charges came out of what deputies discovered when they contacted him.
Holsey is the fourth person in Chattanooga to be shot and killed so far this year. The teenager studied at Berry College in Georgia for a year, from the fall of 2013 until the fall of 2014, a spokeswoman at the college said. He withdrew from the school in December 2014.
Contact staff reporter Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525 or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com with tips or story ideas.