A Chattanooga man who passed a gun to his brother, who then fatally shot a resident of the Douglas Heights apartments in 2019, has been sentenced for facilitating a murder.
Omerrieal Woods, 33, was sentenced Thursday to serve six years in state prison, according to court documents, for giving a gun to his brother, Toddie Olerrieal Woods, who used it to fatally shoot 25-year-old Rigoberto Jarquin inside his Douglas Heights apartment the morning of July 14, 2019.
In June, Woods was found guilty of one count of facilitation to commit reckless homicide and two counts of facilitation to commit attempted aggravated assault, all felonies. He received a two-year sentence on each count to be served consecutively, according to an order by Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Boyd Patterson.
Patterson also sentenced Woods to serve 11 months and 29 days at the Hamilton County Jail for the misdemeanor charge of unlawful possession of a weapon.
Last October, Patterson sentenced Toddie Woods to serve 20 years in prison after he entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder.
The shooting
As previously reported by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the Douglas Heights Apartments opened its doors in 2016 and offered a one-of-a-kind living option to students and nonstudents alike in Chattanooga, since it was in the central downtown area, on Douglas Street, near the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus.
The Woods brothers were reported to have been guests of Jarquin, who let them in the apartment building.
Shortly before 4 a.m. on July 14, 2019, Chattanooga police officers responded to a call at the apartment complex of people being shot, according to an affidavit from the department. Officers found Jarquin with “multiple gunshot wounds, deceased on the apartment floor,” according to the affidavit.
During the investigation, detectives with the Chattanooga Police Department’s violent crimes unit obtained surveillance video, on which both Woods’ can be seen.
A few days after the shooting, Omerrieal Woods was apprehended by local and federal authorities. Toddie Woods turned himself in to local law enforcement, also a few days after the shooting.
Contact La Shawn Pagán at lpagan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476.
