Witness, surveillance footage helps Chattanooga police identify suspects in Trailwood Drive homicide


Closeup of silver handcuffs detaining crime prisoners. Shot on the wooden table arrest tile arrests / Getty Images
Closeup of silver handcuffs detaining crime prisoners. Shot on the wooden table arrest tile arrests / Getty Images
A home surveillance camera and a witness helped Chattanooga police identify and arrest three suspects in the July 21 homicide of 28-year-old Tracy Calloway.

Police were called just after 2 p.m. to the 4600 block of Trailwood Drive, where they found Calloway inside a white sedan with multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to a local hospital where he died a short time later.

Calloway was a father to a son and three daughers, according to his obituary. He had gone to Brainerd High School and attended Greater Second Baptist Church. His funeral and subsequent burial was held on July 31.

At the scene, Calloway's vehicle was littered with bullet holes and several spent shell casings were found in the street about four houses down from where the vehicle was located, according to Hamilton County court records.

photo Antonio Watkins
photo Jamichael Smith
photo Prandel Reid Jr.

A home's surveillance camera picked up a portion of the shooting take place, court records state. Investigators said the video shows a mini-van stop in the middle of the road and another silver vehicle cuts around the van and stops in front of it. Two people then get out of the passenger side of the mini-van, one of whom is armed with a rifle-style firearm. Several shots are then heard.

After the shooting ceases, the people get back into the mini-van, and both the van and silver vehicle flee the scene, court records state.

The next day, police spoke to a witness who was present at the time of the shooting. The witness told police who was in the mini-van and said there had been talk between the people to "go out [and] shoot someone."

The surveillance footage and ballistic evidence corroborated what the witness said, court records state.

Antonio Watkins, 25; Prandel Reid Jr., 25; and Jamichael Smith, 26, are all charged with first-degree murder, criminal conspiracy, unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm during commission of a felony, and reckless endangerment.

They are being held in the Hamilton County Jail on $1.2 million bonds each.

Based on the information gathered to this point, police believe the victim and suspects knew each other.

All three suspects are known Gangster Disciples, and have lengthy criminal histories in Hamilton County.

Watkins had been out of jail since June 29 on a $95,000 bond awaiting a settlement hearing in a 2016 attempted murder case.

He and two others, Lejuane Norris, 22; and Dequan Fuqua, 21, were indicted by a grand jury on Jan. 30 of this year. They're accused of attempting to kill Natasha Jones, then-31, on July 4, 2016.

Watkins' arrest history also includes charges of aggravated assault, retaliation against an official and numerous drug- and traffic-related charges.

Smith has previously been charged with aggravated assault and numerous weapons charges. And Reid's criminal history consists of aggravated assault, felony evading arrest and drug possession/resale charges.

Calloway's death was the city's 13th gun-related homicide. Four additional people have been killed since then, including one shot by a police officer.

Police have not confirmed whether Calloway's killing was gang-related, if any additional suspects may be arrested or if any other shootings are connected to Calloway's death. But city council member Demetrus Coonrod recently noted an increase in shootings since the release of a high-ranking member of the Gangster Disciples. Neither she nor police confirmed who the gang member was, but she may have been referencing Watkins.

Contact Rosana Hughes at rhughes@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327 with tips or story ideas. Follow her on Twitter@HughesRosana.

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