Lamell Billups
Chattanooga Police Department Violent Crimes investigators arrested Lamel Billups, 20, for the shooting that happened on April 11, at the parking lot of the Volkswagen plant. Police said the victims included a Uber driver and a 19-year-old that Billups had attacked with a crowbar earlier at the same spot.
Billups fired 20 shots, including 12 that struck the vehicle or the victims, police said.
The Uber driver, 31, was shot one time in the left thigh. The other victim, 19, was shot in the left thigh and grazed on the right thigh.
There was a second passenger in the back seat, but police said the other person in the back shielded him so that he was not injured.
The pair in the back seat had just got off work and summoned the Uber.
After the shooting the suspect was seen leaving on foot.
Police said Billups was a contractor for Volkswagen. He was able to enter the parking lot using his current work badge.
They said he was armed with a handgun and opened fire on the vehicle and its occupants "without apparent provocation." Police said the victims were attacked "ambush style."
Dozens of innocent bystanders were in harm's way, it was stated.
Multiple witnesses described him as a black male with dreadlocks. He was wearing a white shirt and black pants and had a back pack on his chest.
The crowbar incident was several weeks earlier.
Billups is charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of aggravated assault, felony reckless endangerment, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
He turned himself in at the Silverdale Detention Facility.