19-year-old slaying victim 'good boy,' mother says

photo Aundre Bush
photo Lathe Corbin

Aundre Bush's son had his first birthday party on Saturday, just a few days after the toddler started walking.

The 19-year-old father won't see his son get any older or take any more steps.

On Monday, the teen was killed by a bullet to the head.

His mother, Robin Harris, said Bush -- whose son was named after him -- was a good father and a good son.

"He was a good boy," she said through tears Tuesday, about 18 hours after Bush was shot to death on Southern Street near the Harriet Tubman public housing development. "He wasn't a problem child. He didn't bother people. He just liked to have fun. Everything he said was a joke. He was always trying to have fun."

Bush, who had dropped out of high school, was about to start a GED program at Chattanooga State Community College, his mother said.

Lathe Corbin, 30, turned himself in to police Tuesday morning, Chattanooga police spokeswoman Sgt. Jerri Weary wrote in an email. He was charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment, she said. Weary said police don't have a reason to believe the shooting was gang-related.

The trouble started Monday night when a group of teenage girls and a couple of guys started fighting at the housing development. A man showed up and fired a pistol into the air, said Harris and her daughter Dominique Harris.

Everybody scattered, Robin Harris said, including her.

"Oh man, he's fixing to shoot me," she remembered thinking as she ducked.

The man then shot at one of the men and missed, according to witnesses at the scene. He then aimed his gun at Aundre Bush's head and fired.

Bush died at 6:44 p.m. at Erlanger hospital, according to Corbin's arrest report.

Bush's mother and sister say they chased Corbin, known in the neighborhood as "Big Lay," after Bush hit the ground.

"My daughter and I followed him," Bush's mother said, "and he turned around and looked us in the face. Then, he didn't run. He walked away, as if he hadn't done it."

Corbin's only previous criminal record in Hamilton County involved a marijuana possession charge in 2004. He was fined $500 and placed on probation, according to court records.

His uncle, Delta Evans, said Corbin isn't normally a troublemaker.

"He probably got involved in somebody else's problems," Evans said, though he admitted he didn't know much about what happened Monday night.

Corbin was identified, according to a Chattanooga police arrest report, by a video someone recorded of the shooting. The video showed Corbin with a cross hanging from his neck, which matched his Facebook profile picture.

As for little Aundre, Harris said she and the boy's mother will raise him.

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