Affidavit Says Bystanders had to Hide Behind Vehicles
UPDATE:
CBL Properties, the owners of Hamilton Place Mall, has sent News 12 the following statement.
“We appreciate law enforcement’s quick response to Saturday’s incident, and as a result of that quick response, the suspects involved were promptly apprehended. We stand ready to assist law enforcement in any way so that those responsible will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Since this in an ongoing investigation, for any further comment, we direct you to either the Chattanooga Police Department or the Hamilton County District Attorney’s Office.
While we do not publicly discuss our security measures, please be advised that we had a security force, including off-duty CPD officers, onsite Saturday afternoon. In addition, we use high-definition security cameras. Both our security and cameras were used by CPD to quickly identify the suspects, which led to their arrests. We continually review our security measures and will do so after this incident as well.”
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Questions are still being raised after a shooting in the parking lot of Hamilton Place Mall.
An affidavit paints just how this situation could have easily taken a darker turn outside of the mall.
It states that as four people were leaving the mall near Dick’s Sporting Goods, they were fired upon from a dark gray Audi Sedan.
Among these people were Anthony Douglas and a male juvenile. 
All four of the group jumped into a black Infiniti and fled the scene.
Officers saw this vehicle leaving the area on Gunbarrel Road and started driving on the wrong side of the road in a police chase.
Officers eventually stopped the Infiniti on Jersey Pike where Douglas and the juvenile were detained.
Two other people in that car fled.
Officers say that Douglas told them that they were fired upon, which video at the mall corroborated.
The affidavit states that there were 26 nine-millimeter shell casings located strewn across the parking lot.
There were several bystanders who had to take cover behind their vehicles when the shooting took place.
One bullet went through a vehicle’s windshield and came to rest in a child’s car seat in the second row.
The Black Gray Audi was then seen fleeing towards I-75, where the driver of the vehicle, Montrel Price, was later arrested at an apartment in Ooltewah.
The affidavit says that Price provided inconsistent stories about his whereabouts during the incident as he was found to be in possession of a stolen firearm.
We have been attempting to reach out to the owners of the Hamilton Place Mall, CBL Properties, on their mall security measures in the wake of this latest incident.
CPD says that the mall subcontracts police officers through their main office.
Police also said they have officer patrol the area, citing that as a reason for the quick response in this situation.
The last time we spoke with mall representatives in November, they discussed what security at the mall looks like.
A CBL Spokesperson, Stacey Keating, said then, “We do have a full-time third-party security company that works for us. They’re on-site 24/7 both interior and exterior of the property.”
Despite our repeated attempts, CBL has not responded to News 12 for a comment on this incident.
The mall, based on our observations, is still operating as normal.
