Tyler Reid
A woman who is the mother of a murder victim and is also the aunt of the shooter on Thursday described the bizarre June 25 incident at her Ooltewah home.
Sonya Reid said she heard a pop and then found her son, John Hayes, bleeding in his bed. She said when she went to call police she heard a second shot ring out and later found the nephew, Tyler Reid, holding a handgun.
She said Reid told her he had shot her son because he "had a demon."
General Sessions Court Judge Lila Statom bound a first-degree murder charge to the Grand Jury against Reid, who went to Austin Peay on a football scholarship. She lowered his bond from $1.5 million to $750,000.
Ms. Reid said she had picked up Reid that night and took him to their trailer home. She said he asked that Christian music be played on the radio. She said he had recently been baptized at a local church.
She said he seemed normal except at one point he asked her why she was shouting at him when she said she was just talking above TV and fan noise.
She said, "They weren't arguing. It was a peaceful night."
Ms. Reid said she was in her room when she heard the first noise. She said she asked Reid what it was about and he shrugged. She said the light was out in her son's room and she could see him moving across his bed.
She said Reid told her, "He did it." She asked, "Did what?" She said Reid told her, "He was trying to kill me."
Ms. Reid said she saw red specks on the bed. She said she saw more red spots on his chest and she exclaimed, "Oh my God, is that blood?" The mother said she then saw "a big gush of red stuff coming down from his head."
Ms. Reid said Tyler Reid asked her not to call 911, saying, "You're going to get me in trouble."
She said as she was calling she heard another shot and then saw the handle of a gun in Reid's waistband. She said she told him, "You shot John." She said, "I was freaking out."
Ms. Reid said Reid told her, "You didn't get him no help. I told you there was a demon in him."
She said she returned to her son, whose breaths were getting more and more labored. She told him, "Hold on. Don't give up." She testified, "I kept telling him I loved him."
Ms. Reid said, after hearing Reid's remarks, she was thinking, "I've got two who are sick." She said her son was on government disability suffering from schizophrenia.
On cross-examination from attorney Ben McGowan, she was asked about the effect of religion on Reid. She said he had been upset that they had not gone to his baptism and he had urged them to go to church.
While Judge Statom was considering whether to allow the questioning about religion, attorney McGowan said he did not mean to disrespect the religious beliefs of the judge. Judge Statom said he was not "because you don't know my religious beliefs."
Attorney McGowan said, "A religiously-driven purpose sometimes clouds their judgment."
Detective Patrick Miller said the victim died later from two gunshots to the back of the head.
He said Reid let a deputy into the house and told him, "I did it. I shot him."
A gun was found in a bag in the living room. It was learned that it belonged to Reid's father.