Chattanooga Police were dispatched to a suspicious person call in the 1700 block of East 12th Street on April 5, at 12:47 a.m. The caller advised Hamilton County 911 they observed two teenagers on bikes checking door handles of vehicles in the area. The caller provided a detailed description of the black males to include wearing hoodies and masks.
Chattanooga Police Neighborhood Policing officers were quickly in the area and located two suspects matching the descriptions given by the caller.
When the suspects realized CPD officers located them, they began to ride off on their bikes from officers.
One of the suspects, a 17-year-old male, was detained by officers nearby and found to be wearing a hoodie, mask, and gloves. The juvenile's parent responded to the scene and advised the juvenile was out of the house without permission. The juvenile would not go home with his parent and was uncooperative with officers on scene, so he was arrested for curfew violation and disorderly conduct. He was transported to Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center.
The other suspect, a 16-year-old male, continued to ride his bike from the area. A CPD officer was in the area of South Willow Street attempting to locate the suspect. As the CPD officer was driving through an intersection, the juvenile on the bike did not stop at the stop sign and ran his bicycle into the side of the patrol vehicle. He attempted to run from that scene as well, but was limping due to crashing into the patrol vehicle. He was detained by officers.
Once detained, it was found that the juvenile was armed with a loaded handgun and was wearing bullet resistant body armor.
Hamilton County EMS responded to the scene due to the juvenile's leg pain. He was transported to a local hospital with very minor injuries.
He was released from the hospital and transported to Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center. He was charged with evading arrest, resisting stop/arrest, equipment violation, and weapons violations.
This information is preliminary and is subject to change as the investigation continues.