2 Victims From Highway 58 Shooting Testify In Court

  • Monday, May 2, 2016

Joe Massengill and Demarketh King, victims of a shooting on crowded Highway 58, testified in Judge Lila Statom's courtroom on Monday.

Rashad Davis and Christopher Green have both been charged with attempted first-degree murder for the April 21, 2016 shooting. Davis was on probation, and Green was on bond, at the time of the crime.

During his testimony, Mr. Massengill said he heard a bullet ricochet off a steel pole before it hit him in the back. He said he was checked by EMS on site, but had only superficial injuries.

Mr. King, the target of the shootings, suffered no injuries. He said he was on his moped going to get a chicken sandwich for his wife and was stopped at a red light on Highway 58, going toward Captain D's, when he heard shooting.

“I've been shot at before. You can hear it, like the wind,” he said, gesturing as if to indicate bullets passing by him.

Mr. King said he did not see the passenger or the driver, but he noticed the vehicle was a white Impala.

He said the passenger shot first, over the roof of the vehicle, and then pulled into Captain D's, where the driver got out and continued shooting. Mr. King said his moped was badly damaged.

“I can't even drive it. It's through,” he said. “I ain't got no brakes. My brake handle's gone.”

Mr. King said by the time he made it to his mother's house there were already police there and at his apartment. He said, though he did not know Green, he has known Davis for a couple of years, and they had “had trouble before.”

He said after he got out of prison in 2011, he has been “trying to stay out of the way.”

“I don't have a 9mm anything. I can't even carry guns,” he said.

Detective Andrew Peker of the Chattanooga Police Department said there was a major response of officers to the “active shooter” call and a man on the scene “provided a tag number and vehicle description” of a white Chevrolet Impala. He said that information led police to 4816 Swan Road, where Green and Davis were located.

Detective Peker interviewed Davis at the Police Service Center. He said Davis was initially “very upfront about the shooting.” He said Davis told him that he had an ongoing feud with the target and was “under the assumption that Mr. King had a gun.”

He also said Davis admitted to attempted first-degree murder because he said he pulled into the Captain D's on Oak Street “to get a better shot” and because he admitted to “shooting at Demarketh King with a .357 magnum five times.”

Detective Peker said there were 9mm shell casings in the parking lot of the crime scene. He said Green did not give a statement. However, Davis “said (the 9mm shell casings) must have been Mr. Green,” but that he was “not sure that Mr. Green was firing.”

Detective Peker also said a white Chevrolet Impala, which matched the tag numbers and description officers had been given, was found at the residence where Green and Davis were located. He said two weapons were recovered from the residence and there were spent shell casings in the vehicle.

“I believe them to be 9mm, but I have not put my hands on them yet,” he said.

The defense attorney for Green, Kelli Black, said there was “absolutely no evidence from the officer or the victims” that would put Green at the scene of the crime.

“The only thing that we have at all in front of the court is Mr. Davis's statement that he's not even sure if Mr. Green was firing,” said attorney Black. “Mr. King has indicated that the only person that got out of the vehicle at Captain D's was the driver.”

Attorney Black asked for the four charges against Green to be dismissed.

Prosecution said there was “sufficient corroborated physical evidence that ties Mr. Green to the shooting.”

Attorney Black said, “We don't believe the likelihood of conviction in this matter is high.”

She asked for a more reasonable bond to be set.

Detective Peker said that Green had been “validated as a Rollin 60 Crip,” and the prosecution said that “present circumstances in this community would be of importance in this case.”

Judge Statom said the situation was “very troubling.”

She revoked Davis's probation and increased Green's bond. The cases against both men were bound over to the grand jury.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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