City sees 18 shooting victims in June

With 18 shooting victims, June has been Chattanooga’s most active month for gun violence this year.

Just between June 19 — the day Robert Gill, 29, was shot and killed — and June 29, there were nine shootings resulting in 10 victims, two of whom were teenagers — a 14-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl.

In the girl’s case, a bullet grazed her foot while she was in her East 35th Street home last Wednesday, Chattanooga police said. As for the boy, he showed up at a local hospital with a gunshot wound Saturday. Details about what happened, including the location of the incident, are still unknown.

Gill, who was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds in the 3200 block of South Street, was buried on June 29.

He “lived life to the fullest, and was deeply loved by his family, friends and his only daughter,” his obituary reads.

Little is known about the other victims, as police have not released the identities of those who survived. Most of them were men in their late-20s to mid-30s.

In one case, witnesses reported hearing people arguing before shots rang out in the 2000 block of Bennett Avenue at around 2 a.m. Saturday. A 27-year-old man was injured as a result.

Two days earlier on Thursday, a 20-year-old man was shot after being chased by several men at around 8:30 p.m. in the 4200 block of Kayla Circle. He told police he heard gunshots and managed to get away, but then realized he’d been shot.

That same day, two men were shot multiple times in the 1500 block of Bradt Street. The victims, a 35-year-old and a 36-year-old, told police they had been shot while sitting on a front porch.

Apart from Gill, Douglas Holmes, 35, is the only other person to die as a result of a gunshot in June.

Holmes was found lying on the kitchen floor of a home in the 2000 block of Portland Street just after midnight on June 24. He had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Jeremy Sutton, 20, has been arrested in connection to Holmes’ death.

Holmes’ funeral was held Monday afternoon. He had three daughters, according to his obituary.

Police haven’t said if any of the recent shootings are connected. They did say, however, that at least three of the most recent shootings have been gang-related, though it’s not clear which ones. But that number may change as investigators confirm suspect information.

While June has had the most shootings this year, it’s also had the most arrests.

So far, six people have been arrested in connection to five separate shootings this month, according to Times Free Press records. Of the 34 shootings that left 40 people injured between January and May, only seven people have been arrested, two of whom were 17-yearold juveniles — one for the April homicide of 18-yearold Malik Sawyer.

Despite last month’s high number of shootings, 2019 has seen fewer shootings as of Sunday than previous years. With the exception of 2018, which had only one less victim, 2019 has seen, on average, 16 fewer shooting victims since 2015.

Chattanooga police, while hesitant to call the lower numbers a trend, have credited the decrease to a variety of factors, including gaining more trust among community members. They also credit the various units in the department coming together to work effectively amongst themselves and with other agencies to investigate each case and follow up on all shots-fired calls, including those without victims.

As for the unsolved shootings, Chattanooga police ask anyone with information to call 423-6982525 or submit tips via the Chattanooga Police Department mobile app. Tipsters can remain anonymous.

Contact Rosana Hughes at rhughes@timesfreepress.com or 423757-6327 with tips or story ideas. Follow her on Twitter @HughesRosana.