The man accused of shooting a Chattanooga police officer in an exchange of gunfire in Hixson entered a guilty plea Friday to an unrelated charge stemming from a Christmas Eve shooting in Sequatchie County and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
James Alvin Stockwell, 35, waived his right to a preliminary hearing and entered a guilty plea in Sequatchie County Circuit Court to aggravated assault in the Dec. 24 shooting of another man, according to court records. Circuit Court Judge Justin Angel accepted Stockwell’s plea and sentenced him to eight years in state prison to be served at 100%.
The case in Sequatchie County began when Dunlap police answered a call from the Erlanger Sequatchie Valley Emergency Department on Rankin Avenue that a man had come in suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to his leg, an affidavit said. The man spoke to a Dunlap investigator.
The victim “was observed with wounds on his right thigh consistent with a through-and-through gunshot wound and a busted nose,” Dunlap Police Detective Wallace Cunningham wrote in his affidavit.
(READ MORE: Sequatchie County homicide suspect shot dead in standoff)
The man, identified as Brian Ricketts in a Jan. 30 filing by the district attorney, told police he had been visiting friends at a mobile home park on Court Loop on Dec. 24, the affidavit said. As Ricketts was about to drive away, Stockwell jumped out of another vehicle and ran up to his driver’s side window, and the two exchanged punches before the situation escalated.
“Stockwell then drew a multicolored handgun from his waistband and pointed it at the victim,” Cunningham wrote in the affidavit. “The victim stated that he slapped at the gun as Stockwell was firing it, and he got shot in the leg inside his vehicle.”
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Stockwell fled the scene, the affidavit said, but he was apprehended during his next encounter with authorities four days later.
In Hamilton County, Stockwell is accused of shooting at a civilian and a Chattanooga police officer in an exchange of gunfire Dec. 28 in Hixson that left Stockwell and the officer with bullet wounds, according to authorities. Their wounds were not life-threatening.
Stockwell allegedly fled the shooting scene near Highway 153 in an unattended patrol car, authorities said. The Tennessee Highway Patrol pursued the vehicle until it crashed on Highway 111 in Sequatchie County, where Stockwell was held without bond on local charges.
A Hamilton County grand jury returned indictments Jan. 12 charging Stockwell with three counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of aggravated assault, one count of carjacking, one count of possession of a firearm with prior felony conviction and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony. Stockwell is being held at the Hamilton County Jail.
Stockwell has a criminal history in Sequatchie County that includes a conviction on a charge of attempted first-degree murder, leading to a 15-year sentence to state prison, records show. He pleaded guilty in 2015 to an attempted first-degree murder charge after he used a .45-caliber “Uzi” submachine gun the year before to spray bullets into Dunlap resident Chris Sims’ in 2014. Sims underwent surgery for his wounds.
Stockwell was sentenced in May 2015 to 15 years in prison, records show, but was released in early May 2025 after serving about 10 years.
In Hamilton County, Stockwell faces an arraignment Feb. 6 in Hamilton County Criminal Court.
Contact Southeast Tennessee reporter Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.