Experts Say Numerous Gangs Operate In Chattanooga
posted May 14, 2008
Federico Brock testified Wednesday that he was standing by Adrian "A.D." Patton's pickup truck when Bloods gang leader ordered a gang underling to gun him down.
Michael "Mike Mike" Daniels and Timothy "Timboo" Evans are standing trial for first-degree murder in the case in which two experts said numerous gangs are operating in Chattanooga.
Brock, a self-described crack cocaine addict who has been in and out of jail and Brushy Mountain Prison, told the jury that after Patton conversed with him, Daniels and several others that Daniels walked back and told Evans, "Handle this, Piru."
It was testified earlier that Piru is the name of a street in the Compton section of Los Angeles where the Bloods were formed in the 1960s.
Brock said Daniels was angry because he believed that Patton was involved in shooting up his sister's residence at East Lake Courts earlier that day (June 13, 2006).
He said Patton was protesting that he had no part in that shooting.
Brock told the jury that Evans stepped forward and fired eight or nine shots at Patton at close range.
He said he had seen Evans with a handgun earlier that day.
Brock said he watched as Patton tried to drive away. He said Patton collapsed and the Dodge Ram truck went careening into a unit at the end of 48th Street at Emma Wheeler Homes.
Brock said he grew up with Patton, Daniels, Evans and others nearby, including Darius Sneed. He said Patton and Sneed were cousins and, after the shooting, "he was hollering and crying. He broke down."
Brock, Sneed and Delecia “Deedee” Woodruff were initially also charged in the slaying, but the charges were dismissed after a preliminary hearing.
Brock acknowledged he first told police he was not present at the shooting.
Brock said he once was part of the Vicelords gang, but he said, "I just let it go."
Ms. Woodruff told the jury she was sitting on a porch at Emma Wheeler Homes, watching as Patton sat in his truck talking with four men standing near the vehicle.
Suddenly, she told the jury, she saw Evans approach the group and speak briefly with Daniels. Then Evans pulled out his gun, wrapped it in a red rag, and began firing at Patton.
Terrified, she cowered in a doorway until the shooting ended, she said. Then she began running away.
Running right behind her, she testified, were Daniels and another member of his gang, the Skyline Bloods.
Evans has told investigators that Daniels ordered him to kill Patton, and he was afraid not to obey.
In court, although Daniels and Evans are co-defendants and sit at opposite ends of the same table, they wear stun belts to prevent them from attacking each other.
An attorney for Evans – who says Daniels outranked him in the Skyline Bloods and forced him to kill Patton – had sought a separate trial for his client. But trial Judge Rebecca Stern denied that request on the grounds that it would be a “huge expense” for the county.
The hostility between the co-defendants and their respective supporters led courthouse officials to set up tough security measures during the trial. Everybody who goes into the courtroom must first take off their shoes and walk through a metal detector, while their belongings are scanned to see if they contain any weapons.
Jurors, who worked until 6:30 p.m. Wednesday when court recessed for the day, are sequestered.
Late Wednesday, 49-year-old Michael “Flattop” Hudgins – who said Patton was like a son to him – told jurors he also witnessed the shooting.
Patton had asked him to help work on his car, Mr. Hudgins said, but while they were on the way the younger man received a phone call from his mother, who asked her son to come see her.
He stayed outside while Patton went into the house, he recalled. Ten minutes later, when Patton returned to the truck, he was in a foul mood.
“He said his name had come up in some kind of a mess, and he had to get it straightened out,” Hudgins said.
They spent the afternoon driving around and Patton made a series of phone calls aimed at clearing up the misunderstanding, he recalled. One of the people he talked with asked Patton to meet him at Emma Wheeler Homes, Hudgins explained, so they drove to the public housing project.
“A couple of guys walked up to the truck and started talking to him,” he said. “Then another guy came around with a pistol and started shooting.”
When the shots ended, he said, “I looked at A.D. and he looked at me. He said ‘Do you believe this s---?’ Then he slumped over. He didn’t even know he was shot. There was blood pouring out of his chest like a water hose.”
The dead man’s foot slipped off the brake and hit the accelerator, he said, sending the truck racing along the street. He couldn’t reach the pedals, he said, because he was wearing a seatbelt. But he grabbed the steering wheel and eventually was able to slow the vehicle by running it into a tree. Then it careened into the brick wall of an apartment, finally coming to a stop.
He said he could not identify the shooter or any of the other men with whom Patton had been talking.
Another eyewitness – Sneed, who wore a prison jumpsuit and handcuffs as he testified – said the shooter, Evans, was his close friend and they had served time in jail together, he said. “He wouldn’t have done it if he knew he was my cousin,” Sneed insisted repeatedly.
Sneed said he was talking with his cousin and the men standing around his truck, trying to resolve the dispute between the parties. When he saw Evans shoot his cousin, he said, he couldn’t believe it. He fell to the ground and began crying.
About a half hour later, he said, Evans called him and told him he shot Patton because Daniels ordered him to do so.
“He was crying,” Sneed said. “He told me ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t know he was your cousin.’ He said he saw me crying while he was running away and then somebody told him that was my cousin he just did. He asked me if I could forgive him for shooting my cousin.”
Gang members who don’t follow the orders of their leaders can wind up dead, he said.
During cross-examination by Daniels’ attorney, Jesse Dalton, Sneed became belligerent. He shouted angrily at Daniels, charging that he was “smiling at me.”
“Have some remorse, man,” he demanded.
He also attacked attorney Dalton for defending Daniels.
“You ain’t going to make no name for yourself trying to get this guy off,” he told the attorney.
“It’s just a job, Mr. Sneed,” attorney Dalton replied.
Lt. Christina Young, gang specialist at the county workhouse, said the Bloods have a hierarchy with the original gangster (OG) at the helm. She said they also have a young original gangster (YOG), a young gangster (YG) and baby gangster (BG).
Prosecutors told the jury that Daniels was the "young gangster" and Evans the "baby gangster" who followed his orders.
Lt. Young and Matt Hennessee of the Safe Streets Task Force said the Bloods initially operated mainly in South Chattanooga and the Crips around East Lake Courts. They said some of the gang members dispersed when the McCallie Homes were torn down.
Investigator Hennessee said, "Now it is not uncommon to have members of different gangs in a car together going out to do a robbery. But they might be shooting at each other later that night."
The experts said the gang members, when they are "disrespected," are quick to retaliate against the rival gang.
Investigator Hennessee said the main African American gangs are the Bloods, Crips, Vicelords and Gangster Disciples. He said there are three or four Hispanic gangs and five or six white gangs.
Under cross-examination, he said he does not believe that Daniels is the OG of the local Skyline Bloods. He said he does not know who is the OG of that gang.
Lt. Young said the gangs have initiations, tattoos and hand signs.
She said some initiations include the newcomer getting assaulted by other gang members for a specified time, including "pumpkin heading" them. She said they use the term being "beat in" the gang. She said newcomers might also be required to go out and assault other people as part of the rites.
She said the gangs are often involved in drug operations.
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