2 Plead Guilty In Death Of Woman Caught In Brainerd Tunnel Crossfire

  • Thursday, July 24, 2025
Roderick Bates
Roderick Bates

Roderick Bates pleaded guilty on Thursday in the incident in which a woman driving through the Brainerd Tunnel was killed in a crash when shots were being fired from two other vehicles at one another.

Bates, 22, was given a six-year sentence in the July 9, 2022, incident.

D'Avonte Wofford, 23, last week entered a guilty plea and received a 15-year sentence.

The third person charged, 21-year-old Vincent Kennedy, is due in Criminal Court next Wednesday.

Tekeia “KeKe” Michelle Clay, 49, was killed in the incident. Ms. Clay was a Kirkman School graduate who worked in the bursar's office of Chattanooga State.

Wofford was in the news in July 2020 when federal agents and local police said they went after a man suspected of being involved in multiple local gang-related shootings. They said Eric Woods got away, but his associate Wofford was captured.

Law enforcement carried out a search in East Ridge and found a high-capacity drug magazine loaded with .223/5.56x45 caliber ammunition, a loaded 40 round rifle magazine and loose ammunition.

Wofford, who was 18 at the time, was sentenced to served 18 months in federal prison.

D'Avonte Wofford
D'Avonte Wofford
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