Map
Shooting
Chattanooga Police Department crime scene investigator Sgt. Heather Williams examines a shell casing at the scene of a shooting Monday at the intersection of Wilson Street and North Orchard Knob Avenue. Police reported the victim, who was shot three times by a black male in a black Honda, is currently in stable condition.It’s a scene that is all too familiar for Avondale residents. It starts with a dispute. Gunshots follow with people retreating. A young black man lies in the street until paramedics arrive.
“I saw the young man laying in the street, and I pulled my shirt off to apply pressure to the wounds. I don’t even know who he is. He was shot in the back about this far back from his spine,” said 48-year-old Sonya Rawlings, holding her index finger less than an inch away from her thumb. “And in his right leg and in the bottom of his foot.”
The crime scene tape strung across neighborhood streets forced traffic to be rerouted Monday afternoon. Investigators used pieces of paper to mark evidence where shell casings landed near the intersection of North Orchard Knob Avenue and Wilson Street.
Rawlings, who folded up her blood-stained shirt to take home to wash, spoke and stared as investigators worked to document the scene and interviewed bystanders.
“He just kept saying, ‘I don’t know why they shot me. I’m trying to go to work.’ He had on work clothes,” she said, noting a back brace and what appeared to be clothes worn for painting.