A Chattanooga Police Department officer looks in a dumpster near the scene of a shooting in the parking lot of the Family Dollar Store at the intersection of Wilcox Boulevard and Greenwood Road on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015, in Chattanooga.Chattanooga police blanketed the area near a Family Dollar on Wilcox Boulevard early Sunday evening after 21-year-old Deonte James was shot in the chest there, according to police.
Initially, a "person shot" call came into dispatch at 5 p.m. from an address at 1100 Tunnel Blvd., across from Jordan Grocery.
But the shooting actually happened about a half mile away at the Family Dollar on Wilcox at Greenwood Road, according to a police news release.
Police said James was driven from the shooting site to Tunnel Boulevard in a personal vehicle. An ambulance took James from there to the hospital. Police said his wound did not appear to be life-threatening.
Officers worked both sites Sunday evening, investigating what appeared to be an abandoned car at the Tunnel Boulevard location. Several squad cars were parked close by the Family Dollar and crime scene tape cordoned off much of the parking lot where officers marched around.
A red SUV in the parking lot appeared to be a key part of the investigation and officers checked inside a dumpster on the store grounds.
Police did not release any suspect information Sunday night, but witnesses indicated three people were involved.
Several units also responded to nearby Carousel Street, where there were reports of kids running.
A woman who approached the Family Dollar with a friend after the shooting was briefly detained by police, who told her she matched a suspect's description.
"I just got out of bed," she told the officers as they escorted her toward the building. "I just came to get cigarettes."
Police soon released her. She was visibly shaken. She said she was in her early 20s and added that the police told her they were looking for a teenage girl.
Newspaper archives indicate that the shooting was the city's 114th of the year.
Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.
Chattanooga Police Department officers work at the scene of a shooting in the parking lot of the Family Dollar Store at the intersection of Wilcox Boulevard and Greenwood Road on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn.