Region News: Police looking for suspects in Monday night Tiger Mart robbery

Police are seeking assistance from the community with the identification of two suspects involved in a robbery at 5010 Hunter Rd.
Police are seeking assistance from the community with the identification of two suspects involved in a robbery at 5010 Hunter Rd.
photo Police are seeking assistance from the community with the identification of two suspects involved in a robbery at 5010 Hunter Rd.

Suspects sought in Monday night Tiger Mart robbery

CHATTANOOGA - Chattanooga police are looking for two suspects who robbed a Tiger Mart at 5010 Hunter Road Monday night.

The suspects entered the business and attempted to purchase something before one of the suspects displayed a handgun and took money out of the register.

Both suspects fled the store.

Part of Ooltewah-Georgetown Road to close for construction

OOLTEWAH - Construction will begin at 6 p.m. Friday on a roundabout on Ooltewah-Georgetown Road at Mountain View and Blanch roads.

The east side of Ooltewah-Georgetown Road, westbound approach, will be closed to through traffic and detour signs will be posted, according to a news release from the Hamilton County mayor's office.

Mountain View Road will remain open.

Drivers are reminded of the reduced speed limit through the construction zone, and to allow for extra travel time.

The road is scheduled to reopen on Monday, Oct. 16.

Man arrested for sexual assaults on child

MURPHY, N.C. - Cherokee County, N.C., authorities have charged a 41-year-old Murphy man with sexually assaulting a child.

Barry Wade Allen is charged on a grand jury indictment with statutory sex offense with a child greater than 13 years of age and defendant six years or more older and taking indecent liberties with a child, Sheriff Derrick Palmer said in a statement released on Wednesday. The sheriff said the incident was reported in June and the case was presented to the grand jury in July.

However, Allen fled from Cherokee County prior to indictments being issued, Palmer said. The U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Apprehension Unit helped officials locate Allen in Louisiana in late-September. Palmer said Allen waived extradition and was brought back to Cherokee County to face the charges.

Allen is held at the Cherokee County Detention Center awaiting a Dec. 11 date in Cherokee County Superior Court. Palmer encouraged anyone with information on the crime to call the anonymous tip line at 828-837-1344 or email a tip to crime.tips@cherokeecounty-nc.gov.

Fire marshal: Man's death caused by smoking in bed

ROSSVILLE - A state fire marshal's investigator ruled that a Rossville man died this week because he smoked in bed.

According to a news release from the Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner, 70-year-old James Burnette was puffing a cigarette while also breathing through oxygen equipment in his home on Green Lake Circle in Rossville on Sunday. The bed then caught fire.

Paramedics and EMTs rushed him to Erlanger hospital around 2 a.m. Sunday, but doctors declared Burnette dead. The Catoosa County Fire Department put out the flames.

The fire has been ruled as accidental.

Deceased Georgian found was likely dead more than a year

ELLENWOOD, GA. - Police believe a skeleton found in a Georgia home belongs to a man who might have been dead for over a year.

News outlets reported a DeKalb County neighbor called police Monday after a homeless man spotted the remains Friday. Authorities found the skeleton lying in bed.

DeKalb police spokeswoman Shiera Campbell said the county medical examiner's office is working to determine the cause of death, but it might be challenging. Campbell said authorities don't know how long the man had been dead, but the estimate is two years.

The man's identity hasn't been released.

Neighbors told police the man was sick, but his illness wasn't clear. Campbell says a neighbor called the man's sisters when a tree fell on the house last year, but it's unclear if they came.

Man leads deputies from Grundy to Sequatchie in chase

GRUNDY COUNTY, TENN. - Grundy County, Tenn., authorities on Tuesday arrested a 32-year-old local man who led deputies on a 13-mile chase that ended in Sequatchie County, Sheriff Clint Shrum said in a statement on the department's Facebook page.

The pursuit began about 12:30 a.m. CDT Tuesday after James Randall Nunley was stopped on suspicion of impaired driving near 52nd Avenue in Gruetli-Laager, Shrum said. Nunley reportedly pulled over at first but fled when the deputy stepped out of his patrol car.

The chase continued into the Cherry Brand area of Sequatchie County on Highway 399 after Nunley rammed the front of a patrol car, Shrum said.

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