PDF: Coolidge park shooting affidavit
One of the men accused in the March 27 shootings at Coolidge Park that injured five people was out on bond for carrying a weapon on school property, records show.
Court records indicate Anthony Frieson, 18, had been arrested nearly a month earlier when school officials at Brainerd High School, where he is a student, found a knife in his jacket pocket.
He lied when confronted about the weapon, the arrest affidavit states, telling officials that he had been absent the previous day and simply had forgotten to remove the knife from his jacket.
Attendance records show Mr. Frieson was not absent that day, the affidavit states.
Though Mr. Frieson was out on a $2,500 bond on the misdemeanor charge and was scheduled to appear in court in May, his Hamilton County Criminal Court hearing set for Wednesday in the Coolidge Park shootings was on far more serious charges: five counts of attempted first-degree murder, five counts of aggravated assault and one count of felony reckless endangerment.
"It's very fortunate that no one got fatally injured or killed," said Chattanooga Police Department detective Jay Montgomery, who is leading the investigation into the shootings. He said he did not find out until Wednesday of the troubles Mr. Frieson was facing at school.
A second shooting suspect, Taurean Patillo, is charged with five counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a weapon. A juvenile also is charged and is being prosecuted in Hamilton County Juvenile Court.
The incident at Coolidge Park sparked fear in the North Shore area.
On March 27, hundreds had gathered after an apparent mass text message told people to come out to the park. As police were getting people to leave the park, gunfire erupted and five people were hit in their legs with stray bullets.
Police later would say the shootings might be gang related and in retaliation for an incident the day before in which two teens were shot on Southern Street.
Several eyewitnesses and those who attended the gathering since have said it had nothing to do with gang activity. At least three of the people shot that night showed up in court Wednesday with many other eyewitnesses, but all declined to discuss the case.
Prosecutors rescheduled the preliminary hearing in the shootings case for April 28, partly because Mr. Frieson is in the process of hiring a private attorney to handle the matter.