Christine Dobbins, left, and Joseph Kotsis hold hands as they pray during a “Stop the Violence” gang summit and breakfast and hosted by the community development group Hope for the Inner City on Saturday.There couldn’t have been a more perfect day to be outside on Bennett Avenue.
St. Patrick’s Day was one of the first warm Saturdays of the year, and folks on the Highland Park street took advantage of it, lugging out lawn mowers and hedge clippers. Kids rode bikes and practiced flips on the trampoline at the street corner.
The smell of barbecue drifted down the street that evening as families pulled out their grills, and a large crowd turned out for a block party one street over on 12th Street.
Dozens of teens and children lingered on Bennett Street after the party ended, staying out late in the 70-degree air. Thirteen-year-old Keoshia Ford, who was visiting friends in the neighborhood, was laughing and dancing with a group of girls.
A block over, a pair of cars circled the crowd on 12th Street. Someone in one of the cars fired into the crowd, Chattanooga police say. No one was hit. One of the cars then veered onto Bennett Avenue and parked in front of the house where Keoshia was staying.