Chattanooga police say a man fired at them after a gun fell out of his pants

Police are looking for Curtis Brown after he allegedly traded fire with officers on Glass Street.
Police are looking for Curtis Brown after he allegedly traded fire with officers on Glass Street.
photo Police are looking for Curtis Brown after he allegedly traded fire with officers on Glass Street.

A man who exchanged gunfire with Chattanooga police on Monday initially ran from officers. But when he tripped and a gun fell from his pants, he picked up the weapon and fired at two officers, according to police.

Officers Kelly Downs and Stephen Huckabee also fired their weapons, but investigators can't yet say for sure who fired first, Lt. Glenn Scruggs said Tuesday. He could not say how many shots were fired.

Officers reported that Curtis Brown, 34, was running from a store on Glass Street at 11:06 p.m., and 12 seconds later they reported that shots had been fired.

Neither officer was injured, and it appears Brown also escaped without injury, Scruggs said. The shootout was the first time in 2016 that any Chattanooga police officers have fired their weapons, according to police.

Brown is still at large, and police say he is considered armed and dangerous. After the shots were fired, he kept running and got away, even though officers set up a perimeter in an attempt to stop him.

"[When the shots were fired], the cops took evasive action, spread out and probably stopped running," Scruggs said. "He kept running and they lost sight of him."

Brown is wanted on two charges of attempted murder, as well as unlawful possession of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony.

Investigators did not find any evidence that Brown was wounded at the scene, and the man has not received treatment from local hospitals, according to police.

The shootout happened in the 2400 block of Glass Street. Police initially responded to reports of a disorder and a person in the street with a firearm. Scruggs said Brown was previously "known to law enforcement."

Scruggs guessed that the officers were anywhere from 1o to 20 yards from Brown when the shooting happened, but stressed that he was estimating the distance. He could not say what type of firearm Brown used.

Investigators are reviewing surveillance cameras and in-car cameras to determine exactly what happened, Scruggs said.

The two officers who fired their weapons will serve a mandatory seven-day administrative leave, and an internal affairs investigation has been opened into the incident, which is standard procedure.

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