A well-known Chattanooga attorney and his son are dead after a double shooting on Sunday afternoon in an otherwise quiet East Brainerd community unused to violence.
At 3 p.m. deputies with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department were gathered at the taped-off entrance to the subsection of the neighborhood where Glenn Ray Copeland, 82, and his son, Steven Dale Copeland, 59, were shot.
Family members stood outside the perimeter next to their parked cars, murmuring to one another and staring up the driveway which leads to one of the shooting scenes, a large brick home at the top of a hill. They declined to speak to the Times Free Press.
A news release said deputies were called to 9012 Jennifer Lane on the report of a person shot shortly after noon. They found Glenn Copeland in his home with an apparent gunshot wound. He was taken to Erlanger for treatment, but died at the hospital.
The suspect in that shooting, his son, reportedly left the scene before authorities arrived and was found dead at his nearby home at 9015 Jennifer Lane. He also had an apparent gunshot wound, although authorities could not confirm Sunday night whether it was self-inflicted.
Initial reports indicated the incident was likely the result of a domestic dispute and HCSO Chief Deputy Allen Branum said there was no evidence of any further threat to the community.
Glenn Copeland had an office on Brainerd Road and practiced general law, according to online legal profiles.
Bambi Hatcher, a retired courts reporter, said she worked with him for 15 years starting in 1986 and counted it as a privilege.
"He was an advocate for his clients, he treated them with dignity and respect, and he treated other attorneys with dignity and respect," she said.
"He was a good Christian man."
A neighbor who lives just up the block from where the shootings happened said he would wave to the Copeland family members as they passed his house. The neighbor, who asked that his name not be used, was shocked that such violence could strike in his own neighborhood.
"It's terrible. I just don't understand it," he said.
Other neighbors remember the family less fondly.
One couple, who also asked to remain anonymous, said they bickered with Steven Copeland for years about a shared property line, and called him belligerent. They said the father had tasked him with managing a handful of properties next door.
Steven Copeland was arrested in February for driving under the influence, failure to maintain lane, driving left of center line and failure to exercise due care, according to Hamilton County Jail records.
Branum said a final determination on the nature of the deaths will come from the medical examiner, who was on scene with HCSO deputies and homicide investigators that afternoon.
Contact staff writer Emmett Gienapp at egienapp@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731.