Law enforcement and politicians pose for a photo outside the U.S. Capital Building in Washington, D.C. A U.S. Marshals-led operation yielded more than 8,000 arrests A six-week-long, U.S. Marshals-led operation spanning Feb. 1 to March 11 yielded 130 arrests in east Tennessee, including one known Chattanooga gang member, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
The Chattanooga gang member, Dominique Cal, was arrested last month on charges of Attempted 1st Degree Murder, Aggravated Assault, and Felon in Possession of a Firearm.
Nationally, 648 gang members were arrested. The operation also rounded up 559 suspects wanted on homicide charges and 946 suspects wanted for sexual offenses, according to a news release.
The U.S. Marshals-led operation, known as Operation VR, led to more than 8,000 arrests total.
"I am thankful for our partnership with the U.S. Marshals Service, where we are able to take the bad guys off the street," Chattanooga Police Department Chief Fred Fletcher said in a statement. "I am proud of the work they do at great risk to themselves."
Operation VR was conducted nationally, across 94 federal judicial districts. It focused on 12 cities including Savannah, Georgia.
"We applied a strategically focused approach to locate and apprehend the nation's most dangerous fugitives. By removing these violent offenders from the streets, the communities they preyed upon can immediately feel more secure." U.S. Marshals Service Deputy Director David Harlow stated in the release. "Operation VR12 was about using our expertise and law enforcement partnerships to significantly impact our communities by focusing on the worst of the worst violent criminals."