Video played in court Monday from a fatal shooting in downtown Chattanooga shows the suspect and victim talked briefly before the suspect shot the victim at close range.
Darryl Roberts, 57, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the Sept. 28 death of Chris Wright, a 38-year-old Chattanooga businessman.
A witness testified Monday that Wright appeared “drunk and looking tough” when he stopped to talk to Roberts and others that night.
Police said after the incident that the shooting came after a verbal argument. But witnesses Monday said they didn’t remember what was said that night, only that Roberts and others were telling Wright to move along.
Roberts’ case will go to a grand jury, General Sessions Court Judge Gary Starnes ruled Monday, where jurors will decide whether to charge Roberts in Criminal Court.
(READ MORE: Hamilton County, Chattanooga mayors grapple with response to downtown shooting)
Attorneys played video from a surveillance camera outside Patten Towers, near the intersection of 11th and Market streets, during Monday’s hearing.
The footage, which has no sound, shows Roberts sitting outside Patten Towers, where he was living, with two other residents the night of Sept. 28.
Wright then walked down Georgia Avenue and stopped in front of the men, video showed. He appeared to talk to them, moving his arms before turning around and starting to walk away. Wright then stopped and turned around as Roberts approached him, and Roberts appeared to raise a gun and shoot Wright in the head.
Wright fell to the ground after a puff of smoke appears on the video, and Roberts was seen walking away.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Defense attorney Mike Little, left, talks to Darryl Roberts at the Hamilton County Courts Building on Monday
No shell casings were found at the scene, Chattanooga Police Detective James King testified Monday. That could be because the suspect used a revolver that doesn’t give off casings, or the casing may have been lost, King said. No gun has been recovered in connection with the shooting, according to King.
Witness Bryant Houston testified Monday that he told Wright to keep moving. After being told multiple times to move along, Houston said, Wright seemed to realize he needed to keep walking. Video showed Wright appearing to wave to the men as he started to walk away, then stopping just a short distance away and turning back toward them.
Houston said he didn’t recall what Wright or others said. He had been drinking and was buzzed, he said, adding that he still remembered the night’s events.
(READ MORE: Suspect in fatal downtown Chattanooga shooting had long criminal history)
“He shot him,” Houston told prosecutor Paul Moyle. “Once, in the head.”
Around two minutes passed between Wright stopping in front of Patten Towers and being shot, according to the video.
Houston said he didn’t think any name-calling or racial slurs were said, telling Moyle he likely would have remembered hearing things like that.
After the shooting, Houston said he and Christopher Burnett, the other man sitting outside, stuck around the scene to talk to police.
“To be honest, I’m sitting here, my house has been searched … the community’s messed up,” Houston said Monday. “I love my brother, but it was a bad incident.”
Roberts, who also goes by “Too Tall,” was identified by police based on witness accounts and video from a police camera near the scene of the shooting, an affidavit said.
Houston and Burnett said they often sat outside the building talking with Roberts and never had issues with him before. Both witnesses were sequestered outside the courtroom during testimony from the Chattanooga police detective.
A search of Roberts’ apartment found three cellphones and narcotics, according to King. The detective could not recall what type of narcotics were found. Trace evidence was also collected from light switches and the bathroom sink in Roberts’ apartment, King said.
Though an autopsy has not been completed, King said he learned that Wright’s cause of death was the gunshot to his head.
Court records show Roberts has been charged with more than 60 crimes in Hamilton County since the 1990s.
He was arrested the day after the shooting and taken for questioning. King said Roberts sat with his head down in the interview room, his legs bouncing up and down. On Monday, dressed in a red jumpsuit and handcuffs in General Sessions Court, Roberts sat with his legs moving the same way.
Roberts’ bond was set at $5 million at his first court appearance earlier this month. That bond will continue as his case goes to the grand jury, Starnes said.
Both county and city law enforcement said they plan to add more officers in the downtown area in response to the shooting.
Contact Ellen Gerst at egerst@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6319.