Photo Hamilton County Sheriff's Office / Antonio Dejong Espey Jr.Chattanooga police and the Hamilton County District Attorney's Cold Case Unit made an arrest Wednesday in a 2011 homicide.
Antonio Espey Jr., 27, was arrested in a city public works building in connection with the 2011 death of Herbert Strickland.
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On May 19, 2011, a man wearing all black entered the Big K market at 909 Dodson Ave. and opened fire on Strickland, striking him several times.
In 2013, a prosecutor dismissed the first-degree murder charges against Espey after no one could identify him as the shooter, no gunshot residue was not found on Espey's clothing and video and photographs presented at court were not clear enough to make a positive identification.
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There was no explanation for the new arrest of Espey.
"The investigation culminated with the case being presented to a Hamilton County grand jury on March 8, 2022," Bruce Garner, the communications director for the district attorney general's office, said in a news release. "[District Attorney] General [Neal] Pinkston said the grand jury returned an indictment against Espey for murder, and the decision was made to arrest him the following morning. Espey was taken into custody this morning without incident."
The police department and the district attorney's office had no further comment.
- Compiled by La Shawn Pagán