SWAT responds to threat at towers
Reports of a barricaded gunman Friday sent SWAT officers with the Chattanooga Police Department to Patten Towers on East 11th Street.
It turned out to be a woman suffering a mental crisis and the weapon was actually a cap gun, said police spokeswoman Sgt. Jerri Weary.
The woman, 46-year-old Patricia Pickett, was taken to a local hospital for mental evaluation, Weary said. Charges are pending further investigation, she said.
A little after 1 p.m., officers were told that a woman had pulled a gun on one of the Patten Towers security guards and told him she was going to kill him, Weary said. The woman then returned to her apartment and locked herself in, but officers eventually coaxed her out.
Shell casings found on Barton
Police have confiscated five shell casings found in North Chattanooga.
This week, police have issued several statements about reports of gunfire on July 16 near the Walnut Street Bridge but until Friday said no credible evidence had been found to support the reports.
An employee of Dillard Smith Construction Co. was doing some landscaping Wednesday when he located the casings on the ground near a parking garage at 309 Barton Ave., said Chattanooga police spokeswoman Sgt. Jerri Weary.
Despite finding the casing, Weary said investigation on the Walnut Bridge on Saturday incident has stalled due to lack of witnesses and traceable evidence.
Accidental death suspected at bay
The death of a 62-year-old man found in the water near Harrison Bay appears to be accidental, according to investigators.
Authorities were called out to 7424 Woodland Bay Drive just before midnight Thursday after the body of Alan Moultrie was discovered.
There were no signs of foul play to Moultrie's body, authorities said, but his body was taken to the Hamilton County Medical Examiner's Office for further examination.