Marquel Alexander
Marquel Alexander, of 4925 Lavender Trail in Hixson, has been charged with attempted first degree murder of his brother, who he dropped off at a hospital after shooting him.
Chattanooga Police responded to reports of a person shot at Memorial Northpark Hospital, 2051 Hamill Road, on Sept. 5 at approximately 12:01 a.m. The victim arrived at the hospital by a personal vehicle, suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to the right abdomen. The victim was transferred to another hospital for surgery.
Investigators were told the victim was dropped off at the hospital by a black female and a black male in a newer model grey sedan, possibly a Nissan Sentra, with a temporary tag. The two told the hospital staff they picked up the victim somewhere on Highway 153 and brought him to the hospital.
They did not provide their names and left prior to police arrival.
The next day, police received an anonymous call at 5:51 p.m. from a person who said they lived on Lavender Trail. They told police they had heard loud arguing at 4915 Lavender Trail the night the shooting had occurred. They said they heard a gunshot, then observed a man and a woman put a man into the woman's car, a bronze-colored sedan with a temporary tag, and drive away.
The caller said the woman was a black female with white beads in her hair and the man was approximately 250 pounds and 5'10". The two the caller described matched the physical description given by hospital staff and seen on surveillance footage of the two who dropped the victim off at the hospital. The caller said the two did not return to the Lavender Trail residence other than for a few short minutes around 6 a.m. on Sept. 6, then left again.
The victim was unconscious for several days before speaking with police. On Sept. 8, police were notified the victim was awake and had said that his brother, Marquel Alexander, was the person who had shot him.
On Wednesday, police spoke with the victim at the Police Service Center on Amnicola Highway and he told police that he and his blood brother had gotten into an argument at the residence on Lavender Trail and the brother had shot him in the abdomen. The victim showed police on a map where the incident had happened and it was at 4915 Lavender Trail. Police also showed the victim a still photo from video footage of the two who dropped him off at the hospital, and he identified Alexander and the woman. Neither of them had ever contacted police to report the incident.
Alexander is a convicted felon and unable to legally possess a firearm, police said.