Judge Cleans House in Bonny Oaks Shooting Case

     Seven of the 10 young men arrested after a suspected gang shootout last week...will remain in jail and be bound over to the grand jury.
     That was the result of a pre-trial hearing Wednesday morning in Sessions court....one that was played out in front of a packed courtroom.
     WDEF News 12's Bill Michell has more In tonight's top local story.

One by one baliffs brought in the suspects for a preliminary hearing. There were 10 arrested after what police call a drive-by shooting in a normally quiet Bonnie Oaks neighborhood.  It happened around 2:20 Friday morning between 6 men sitting on a porch at 7749 Holiday Hills Circle..and 4 more stopped a few blocks away in an SUV with a bullet hole in the windshield.

Jonathon Wade lives around the corner.

JONATHON WADE, NEIGHBOR: "the kids are scared to come outside and play...their parents don't want to be seen outside. It's a neighborhood...it used to be a very good neighborhood."

James Dill and his family live across the street from the house where police later found two guns. A bullet shattered a mirror in his daughter's upstairs bedroom. He wants to start a neighborhood watch.

JAMES DILL, NEIGHBOR:  "Everybody's coming to me and saying this is going on..and that is going on..but I can't do it alone...they're going to have to tell police, too...and tell about activity."   

JUDGE DAVID BALES, SESSIONS COURT: "this is going to have to stop. The gang violence..going from one neighborhood and shooting up one neighborhood..coming back the next night and shooting it up again..and that's going to be put to a stop."

The men all had prior convictions for offenses including assault and drug charges..so Judge Bales revoked their probation and sent them back to jail. He set bonds of up to 125-thousand dollars and bound each of them over to the grand jury. Three others waived a preliminary hearing. One had no prior conviction, and two were juveniles. 

Is there a "gang" stigma?

DAN RIPPER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY:  "yes, it's a big part of the case..and obviously it's a part of this case since the police are alleging it's a part of a shootout between two rival gangs."

In Downtown Chattanooga, Bill Mitchell WDEF News 12.      

     The high bonds set by Judge Bales probably guarantees the suspects will remain in jail until after the grand jury meets next month.