When bystanders are caught in the line of fire on the streets of Chattanooga

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (WDEF) – Almost everyone has experienced being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but on the streets of South and East Chattanooga, being in the wrong place at the wrong time has led to the wrong people being injured and sometimes killed.

Back on October 9, Jimmy McCain, 33 was shot to death at the corner of Sholar and Wilder.

“They were like Jimmy hit. Jimmy hit.  All I remember was jumping out the car trying to give him CPR,” said McCain’s girlfriend.

On August 11, who could forget news of a one year old boy who was shot in he leg on Walter Street in Alton Park.

“These cowards shot a baby,” said Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher.

Several days prior to the boy being shot, three people in the 2600 block Dodson Avenue were shot in front of a home. One of the victims was a teenage girl.

“We slowly killing our generation; black on black crime,” said Minister Jeffrey Evans.

The victims singled out by News 12 all have one thing in common, they were not the intended targets, instead they were merely bystanders who were near the intended targeted or caught in the middle of a gun battle between opposing gang members.

Chattanooga police Lt. Glenn Scruggs said those two scenarios have increasingly become a common theme on the streets of Chattanooga.

“For the most part, these are very young people who aren’t that experienced with firearms. They don’t go to the range and practice. They just pick up a gun and point and point it toward a crowd, hoping to hit the target they’re shooting at; sometimes hitting that target but often times not that target,” Scruggs said.

When Jimmy McCain was fatally caught in the crossfire of a shootout between two gangs, his girlfriend begged for the person responsible to turn himself in.

“Whoever did this {expletive} come clean because you all took my baby’s life and it’s {expletive} up. He was a good man and he didn’t deserve this bull {expletive},” she said.

When people are arrested after accidentally shooting and killing the wrong person, the question becomes whether or not they realize the impact of their actions? The answer to that questions varies.

“Sometimes they will have remorse and sometimes not. sometimes they will say that person was not the guy I was shooting at but he’s just as bad as that guy, he’s from that same crew, or he’s from same gang; although he wasn’t the person I was shooting at; that’s just tough,” Scruggs said.

When the innocent bystander is a small child like the one year old shot during a drive-by shooting in Alton Park, police are more likely to get credible leads on a suspect.

“You get an outpouring of call from the community; folks are outraged by it. A lot of time people don’t pick up on that, but there is a tremendous amount of outrage when a young person gets shot, especially a one year old or a four year old sitting on a porch,” Scruggs said.

When a small child becomes the unintended victims of gun violence, it gives more meaning to an old saying that bullets have no names.