East Ridge police claim hotel employees covered up shooting

Superior Creek Lodge

An East Ridge police officer accused the staff at Superior Creek Lodge of trying to cover up a shooting at the motel last month, but the business owner disputes his account.

Officer Anthony Brooks wrote in an incident report Aug. 21 that he responded to a report of shots fired at Superior Creek Lodge, located at 1410 Mack Smith Road next to Interstate 75. Someone in room 303 fired a shot at the floor. The bullet ripped through the ceiling of room 203, cut through a window and buried itself in the foam inside a column that supports the building.

Brooks said that when he got to the motel, a desk clerk named Teresa Dampier told him the shooting had happened 45 minutes earlier.

“I asked her why it took 45 minutes to call law enforcement,” Brooks wrote in his report.