An East Chattanooga man testified Monday he could not believe his longtime friend would ever shoot him. But he said Cornelius Garrett "became enraged" when he accused him of "disrespecting" his mother.
Terry Marshall said Garrett shot him once in the neck, then tried to shoot him again in the incident in early February at Garrett's residence on Roanoke Street.
He said, "We've been friends for years. I went over to his house all the time."
General Sessions Court Judge Ron Durby bound charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault against Garrett to the Grand Jury. He remains in jail on a $250,000 bond.
The victim said he and Garrett were drinking along with his mother and "her old man" - John Frazier - and Garrett's brother. He said they ran out of beer and cigarettes and his mother and Frazier went to get it.
He said Garrett was to pay for some of the items, but he reneged on the deal. He said that is when he told Garrett he had disrespected him mother.
Marshall said Garrett first tried to beat him with the leg of a table, then went at him with a box cutter. He said when his mother get in between them, Garrett went to his bedroom and got a black 22-caliber pistol with a brown handle.
He said he heard Garrett fire a warning shot in the air while still in his bedroom.
The witness said, "I didn't think he was going to shoot me. I didn't think he was serious."
But he said Garrett came out into a hallway and aimed the gun at his head. He said he moved his head enough so that the shot went into his neck.
He said they then struggled over the gun because Garrett was trying to shoot him again. He said they fell over the bed while going for the gun.
He said he finally made his way outside, where he fell to the ground due to a collapsed lung.
Marshall, who was so weak he had to sit down while testifying, said he was in the hospital for almost two months. He said the bullet is still lodged inside him and he had to have a tracheotomy.
Garrett was in a wheelchair at the hearing, but Marshall said he wasn't the night of the shooting.
"Ain't nothing wrong with him," he said.