Less than 10 hours after a Manufacturers Road shooting sent a man to the hospital, the suspect was photographed, fingerprinted and in a Hamilton County Jail cell.
Shooting suspect William Valentine, 25, has a hearing set for Thursday in General Sessions Court and faces charges of attempted first-degree murder and assault.
Chattanooga police spokeswoman Officer Rebecca Royval said that Riverside Wine and Spirits employees heard “multiple shots” about 8:30 p.m. Thursday and went outside to find Marquel Lane, 22, had been shot.
“Fortunately, none of (the incident) spilled inside,” said store owner Chris Bratcher.
Lane was listed in critical condition Friday morning after emergency surgery at Erlanger hospital.
There have been 49 shootings with injury and 11 homicides in Chattanooga this year, according to police news releases and newspaper archives.
Bratcher said Friday that he was 20 minutes away when he got the call and, by the time he’d arrived at his store, police were on the scene and had handled the situation. The event was out of the ordinary for the normally quiet spirits store, he said.
Witnesses told police that they saw a white GMC Yukon sport utility vehicle and a black Chevrolet Blazer leaving the area.
Shortly after receiving the call, police stopped the Blazer, where they found Valentine with blood on his shirt and an empty holster. He did not wish to speak to investigators about the incident, police said.
Witnesses identified Valentine as a man they saw struggling with Lane after shots were fired. They also told police that Valentine got into a black SUV and left the scene.
Police arrested Valentine and he was booked into the jail by 6:30 a.m. Friday.
Valentine did not have any previous arrests in Hamilton County, according to court records.