Man Found Dead in East Chattanooga Identified as a Minister
Did it happen last night–or early today?
Was there a gun involved?
Was it foul play and why would something this terrible happen to a minister?
Police did not answer any of those questions, including the victim’s name until late in the day.
Neighbors milled around near a red brick building that used to be a barber ship on Blackford street.
They had heard about the body found a few yards off the busy sidewalk.
OFFICER TIM MCFARLAND, CHATTANOOGA POLICE DEPARTMENT ( IN:18:27) "About 7:15 this morning officers received a call about a suspicious vehicle behind me…they checked the area and noticed the vehicle was sitting behind me..on checking the area they found ..they discovered some clothing ..belonged to a black male…who is deceased for unknown causes..in a ditch behind me. "
But the shock came when the neighborhood heard that the victim was 59 year old Kenneth Johnson, an assistant pastor at Mt. Canaan Baptist Church..and that his body had been discovered by his wife, Sandra. She told officers he was doing church work the night before.
But, although the body was not found in the ditch until morning, residents say they think it actually happened late at night.
DAVID H.H.GRIFFIN, LIVES NEARBY ( IN: 20:43) "I was told by a resident ..A neighbor in the apartment complex that there was a possible confrontation last night at approximately 22 hundred hours…. And the person was assaulted and left." "Did they actually come out? They did not."
Chattanooga police did not confirm they received such a 9-1-1 call last night but spokesman Kyle Miller says it would not be unusual for an officer to cruise through that neighborhood looking for a reported "disturbance" and not find anything.
Miller says the cause of death will be released after they receive the report from the medical examiner.
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