Cell phone location data, surveillance footage, witness help Chattanooga police arrest suspect in June 19 shooting death

Javonte Wynn
Javonte Wynn
photo Javonte Wynn

With the help of cellphone location data, security footage and a witness, Chattanooga police finally identified and arrested a suspect in the June 19 shooting death of 29-year-old Robert Gill, according to Hamilton County court records.

Gill was found unresponsive, lying in a driveway in the 3200 block of South Street around 6 a.m. He had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Video surveillance footage from Bayberry Apartments showed Gill and two other men, one of whom has been identified as 24-year-old Javonte Wynn, getting out of a red Pontiac G6 just before 3:30 a.m., court records state. Then, at about 5:17 a.m., the three men get back into the car and head east.

Later that day, a witness told police she was with Gill before he and the two other men left to go to Bayberry Apartments, court records show. At some point, Gill returned to where the witness was located. Then, sometime between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., Wynn and the other man returned and started rushing Gill to leave again.

The witness said the second man called out to Gill about five times from the living room, court records state.

Both men left, and from 5:21 a.m. to about 5:31 a.m., the witness was on the phone with Gill when she heard about six to seven gunshots, court records show.

Gill never answered again.

She told police she heard two different voices in the background during her conversation with Gill.

While the witness was talking to police, they located the red Pontiac and found fingerprints matching Gill, Wynn and the second man "all over the vehicle."

Then, on June 25, investigators reviewed the report of Gill's cellphone data and found Wynn and the second man's phone numbers. Investigators requested warrants for the location data of those two numbers and found that they were both in the area at 5:30 a.m., the same time the witness and neighbors reported hearing gunshots. But, while the second man left the area by 5:36 a.m., Wynn stayed at the scene.

Wynn was arrested Sunday and charged with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm during a dangerous felony. His bond has been set at $150,000, according to online court records.

The second man has not been charged.

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