Three days of gang activity yield gun busts, shootings, death of fugitive kingpin

Police investiage after a shooting and crash left two dead and a car piled on another vehicle on East 12th Street in Chattanooga Jan. 20.
Police investiage after a shooting and crash left two dead and a car piled on another vehicle on East 12th Street in Chattanooga Jan. 20.
photo Jumoke Johnson
photo Christopher Woodard, 20 was killed on Jan. 20, 2017.

UPDATE: Two more shootings continue violent weekend in Chattanooga.

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Just hours after a double shooting that left a gang kingpin and another man dead on the street in front of her house, a 12th Street woman said she saw another man waving a handgun at the site in broad daylight.

Police found Jumoke Johnson, 23 and Christopher Woodard, 20, dead inside a car that had crashed during or shortly after the shooting, coming to rest on top of another car parked at the curb.

The neighbor, who lives near the crash scene on the 2100 block of East 12th Street, said she saw the gunman brazenly carrying the firearm on the street.

"It looked like he was doing it almost to guard the area," she said, after asking to remain anonymous for safety reasons.

Rob Simmons, a spokesman for the Chattanooga Police Department, said he had no information about anyone carrying a gun at the scene Saturday.

It was the second of what police say were three incidents in three days involving gang members, associates or people connected to past activity by violent groups. On Thursday, three people police described as validated gang members or associates were found with a sack of loaded handguns in another gang's territory. And three women were wounded early Saturday when someone shot into their vehicle.

Witnesses said the car driven by Johnson and Woodard was being chased by another vehicle and fired on. The shooters got away, and as of Saturday night police had released no information on the suspects.

The parked car hit by the dead men's vehicle still sat, windshield obliterated, on the side of the road Saturday. The owner, who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons, said the car wasn't insured and she doesn't know what she is going to do for transportation.

She said the family was in the living room Friday night when they heard the gunshots and then the crash.

"We've never seen anything like it," she said.

Another woman who lives nearby said, "Thank God I wasn't here."

"[My kids] have friends who play right there in that area," she said gesturing toward the scene of the crash while an infant patted her leg for attention. "It's scary for the kids."

Less than six hours after Friday night's double shooting, three women arrived at a local hospital with minor gunshot wounds.

Countess Clemons, 24, Kezia Jackson, 23, and Dutchess Lykes, 26, told police they had been shot while driving on the 2100 block of East Third Street, Simmons said in a news release.

Simmons could not speak to the motive for that shooting or whether it was connected to the double slaying, but did confirm Clemons and Lykes have been associated with "violent group activity in the past."

"Whether or not that bears relevance to this incident is unknown at this time and would be speculation," he wrote in an email.

He also declined to comment on whether the shootings were connected to the arrests of three young men Thursday who were found with several loaded handguns in their car at 100 Workman Drive.

Depriest Deloney, 19, was arrested with a 17-year-old and a 16-year-old, all associated with the Rollin 90 Crips. Three handguns were found in a black backpack in the car with laser sights attached and turned on.

Deloney has been charged with two counts of providing a handgun to a minor, possession of a handgun with intent to go armed and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. His bond has been set at $45,000.

Pulled back into crime

Jumoke Johnson climbed the ranks of the Rollin 60 Crips as a teenager, failing to break out of three generations of gangs and poverty.

In a 2012 Times Free Press profile of Johnson, teachers at Brainerd High School described him as an impressive, charismatic and smart student with huge potential.

"I want to walk across the stage and feel good about myself and go do something with my life," Johnson said a week before his graduation from high school.

After that story was published, an anonymous donor offered him a free ride to a college in Alabama. He went, but was kicked out after one semester and ended up back in Chattanooga's streets.

Police said he became a gang kingpin, a dark thread linking shootings and drug deals throughout East Chattanooga. They said he ordered hits, participated in drive-by shootings and shot a man in the back of the head.

Arrested in a cocaine distribution sting, he pleaded guilty in January 2015 and was sentenced to more than five years in prison. Last week, Johnson escaped from a federal halfway house on McCallie Avenue and cut his GPS monitor.

Staff writer Shelly Bradbury contributed to this story.

Contact staff writer Emmett Gienapp at egienapp@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731. Follow on Twitter @emmettgienapp.

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