Surveillance footage ties suspect to East Brainerd car wash shooting that injured two

Eric Woods thumbnail
Eric Woods thumbnail
photo Eric Woods

Surveillance footage and ballistic evidence helped track down a suspect in an East Brainerd car wash shooting that left two people injured and the business and some customer vehicles damaged last week.

Chattanooga police were called to the Storm Car Wash on Mackey Avenue just before 5 p.m. on Feb. 17. They found two men, 27 and 29, with gunshot wounds, according to a news release by the department.

One had been shot in the chest and needed surgery, and the other was shot in the lower left leg, according to Hamilton County court records. They were both taken to a local hospital by ambulance.

Eric Woods, 23, was arrested on Friday, two days later, in connection with the shooting.

At the crime scene, investigators arrived shortly after the victims were taken to the hospital and found several spent shell casings of varying calibers grouped in different areas throughout the parking lot and in the road, court records state.

At least two windows to the business were hit by gunfire, and several customer vehicles also appeared to have been struck, police noted in the criminal affidavit.

Multiple witnesses told police they were cleaning their cars when they heard several loud gunshots and took cover behind their vehicles, according to court records. Some of them told police they saw people inside two SUVs and a Ford Explorer start shooting toward the business.

Car wash surveillance footage showed two GMC Terrains, one silver and one white, court records state. The silver SUV could be seen going through the car wash and then backing into one of the vacuuming bays.

The driver, alleged to have been Woods, is then seen lowering his window and pointing a gun toward a black Mercedes Benz before shooting several times. The driver then fled the scene.

Members of the Chattanooga Police Department's SWAT team, U.S. Marshals Service, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives took Woods into custody on Feb. 19 around 10 a.m. They obtained a search warrant for his apartment, where they found a 9mm Glock.

By that night, the police department's gun team was able to match the shell casings found at the scene to the gun found in Woods' apartment.

While being questioned, Woods admitted to being the driver of the silver SUV. And as the surveillance footage showed, Woods acknowledged driving through the car wash and backing into one of the vacuuming bays.

He said he heard gunfire coming from multiple directions and then rolled his window down and began shooting in the direction of the black Mercedes.

Woods is charged with two counts of attempted criminal homicide, aggravated assault and felony reckless endangerment. He is expected to appear in court on March 2.

Contact Rosana Hughes at 423-757-6327, rhughes@timesfreepress.com or follow her on Twitter @HughesRosana.

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