By Michael Stone
mstone@timesfreepress.com
Police are investigating two unrelated shootings from early Friday morning that left one man with minor injuries and another in critical condition.
The shootings are the 40th and 41st in Chattanooga that resulted in injuries in 2010, according to newspaper archives.
The first shooting about 12:30 a.m. Friday resulted in a married couple and the wife’s son being charged by police after the son was hit in the face by a blast from the husband’s shotgun.
Dyrel Toney Jr., the son of Felisha Hinton, suffered minor injuries, according to a police report.
The blast came “from about 30 feet away,” said Officer Rebecca Royval, public information officer for the Chattanooga Police Department. “Because of the distance is why it didn’t cause much damage.”
Mr. Toney was treated and released from Erlanger hospital Friday, according to hospital officials.
Mr. Toney is charged with aggravated assault, and Mrs. Hinton is being charged with filing a false report for making false statements to investigators, police said.
Anthony Hinton, Mrs. Hinton’s husband and Mr. Toney’s stepfather, is charged with aggravated assault, according to the report. He was being held at the Hamilton County Jail on a $20,000 bond Friday afternoon, Deputy Joe Rodriguez said.
The altercation started when Mr. Toney arrived at his mother’s house at 4100 Bonny Oaks Drive before going on a date, the incident report said. He had stopped by to ask for money, Officer Royval said.
An argument began, and Mr. Toney struck his mother in the face, knocking out two of her teeth, according to the incident report.
Mr. Hinton then entered the house, retrieved his shotgun and fired a shot in the air, police said.
Mr. Toney went to his vehicle for a handgun and then began running down Bonny Oaks Drive with Mr. Hinton chasing, according to the report. Mr. Hinton told police that Mr. Toney pointed his gun at him, and Mr. Hinton fired from a distance.
All three people have been questioned by investigators, Officer Royval said.
Details on the second shooting, which was possibly drug related, are more hazy.
Police found Antonio Taylor, 28, with a gunshot wound to the head inside a home at 3838 Juandale Trail after being dispatched about 12:45 a.m., according to a Chattanooga police report. Mr. Taylor was in critical condition as of 7 p.m. Friday, said Barbara Rogers, Erlanger hospital’s house supervisor.
The report had no suspect information at the time but said evidence indicated the shooting was the result of a residential robbery “gone bad” and was possibly drug related.