Marcell "Baby Watts" Christopher, who recently refused to testify against a rival gang member who shot him, pleaded guilty to a federal gun charge on Monday.
Prosecutor Chris Poole said Christopher, who is now 20, faces up to 10 years in prison.
He will be sentenced on Aug.
11 by Judge Travis McDonough.
Christopher, when he was 18 in September of 2014, was shot on a Saturday night while he was standing near “Nine Brothers” on 38th Street. He went to the hospital suffering from a non-life threatening gunshot wound.
Then he was at an apartment at College Hill Courts in January 2015 when Cortez Sims burst in and shot him multiple times. At the same time a woman was killed, a second woman shot and a baby left paralyzed by a bullet wound.
Sims was convicted of first-degree murder despite the fact Christopher would not testify in the courtroom of Judge Barry Steelman.
A gang expert testified recently that the shooting at College Hill Courts was part of a long-running feud between two Bloods gangs.
Christopher was arrested Feb. 24 after the Chattanooga Police Department tried to make a traffic stop. Christopher, who was a passenger in the car, got out and started running.
Police spotted a silver revolver in his right hand.
He tossed the gun before he was caught by officers pursuing on foot. However, the weapon was recovered. Christopher said he kept the gun for protection. He said he had bought it on the street in East Chattanooga.
Christopher had two prior misdemeanor domestic assault convictions.
Magistrate Judge Susan Lee told Christopher that his plea was to a felony. She said if he is caught with a gun after getting out of prison, he would then face a minimum of 15 years in prison.
She said, "You are going to have to find some ways to change your life for the better or you are going to spend a long time in jail."