Chattanooga police are looking for a suspect who robbed and shot three men in an alley early Thursday morning.
Eduardo Jimenez, 21, was listed in critical condition Thursday afternoon at Erlanger hospital following surgery for a gunshot wound to the chest.
Elias Perez, 19, and Edwin Miranda, 22, were released from the hospital after being treated for less-serious wounds, according to a police news release.
Perez was shot in the right leg and buttock, while Miranda was shot in the abdomen.
This makes 53 people injured in Chattanooga so far this year in shooting incidents, according to police and newspaper archives.
The men told police that they were standing in an alley behind 2107 E. 13th St. at 2:35 a.m. Thursday when a black male of medium height and slim build “approached them, pointed a gun at them and demanded money,” according to police spokeswoman Officer Rebecca Royval.
When the men told the suspect they didn’t have any money, he began firing at them, then ran away, Royval said.
On Thursday, a man speaking Spanish said he lived at the home and that the men did not live there but were visiting. He declined to give his name and said he was sleeping inside when the shooting took place.
Used surgical gloves and empty beer bottles littered the gravel alley Thursday morning where the men were shot. At the end of the alley, the words “Vato Loco” in black spray paint adorned the wall of a white garage. The term translates in English as “crazy dude” or “crazy guy.”
Royval said there is no evidence that the incident is gang-related.
Todd South covers courts and the military for the Times Free Press. He has worked at the paper for three years and previously covered crime and safety in Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia. Todd’s hometown is Dodge City, Kan. He served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps and deployed to Iraq before returning to school for his journalism degree from the University of Georgia. Todd previously worked at the Anniston (Ala.) Star. Contact Todd ...
It is a matter of time, Like Los Angeles, Spanish gangs will be in Chattanooga with the influx of illegals pouring from other states, that hold that group accountable for not being there legally.
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