Cheerleader at Jamboree recounts her experience during chaos of tasing incident

A source at CPD says suspect in fight is a juvenile connected to the shooting at Hamilton Place Mall in August 2021

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – Finley Stadium was the site of a lot of high school football the last three days, thanks to the Jamboree.

The end of what should have been a great time for parents and students alike was marred by an altercation that led to police tasing a 16-year-old boy.

News 12 spoke with one student who was on the sideline while the chaos ensued, and she found more chaos amid the chaos.

Ava C., a cheerleader for a local high school team playing at the Jamboree, explains what she experienced that fateful moment. “There had just been a play and everyone was celebrating, so it was already chaotic. And, all of a sudden, we see people running from the stands into the field. And I was really confused, and then it just started being more and more people running. And we started hearing people from the student section yelling about a gun, and, like, a shooter, that someone was shooting. And I turned around and all the football players were already gone off the field. That’s when I knew that something was actually happening.”

Police say an altercation between a group of people led to the taser being used, which was mistaken for a gunshot and caused the panic.

That chaos might have been warranted. A police source confirmed to News 12 that the teen that was arrested was also connected to the Hamilton Place Mall shooting one year ago this past Friday.

Ava C.: “It’s definitely scary to think about that there’s someone who was actually part of a shooting still out running around somewhere where there’s so many young, underclassmen – 14, 15-year-olds – running around, whose parents just dropped them off at the football game to watch their school play and there’s a possible shooter running around is like .. is really crazy that that’s even a thing that happens.”

While that happened on the concourse, Ava was still on the field, trying to keep her family together, and away from harm.

“Three or four of the girls on the team had stayed with me and my mom, and then all the other ones had run off across the field. And, so we were like, ‘No one separate any more. Like, stay together.’ And, so we slowly started making our way down that way. I called my dad. He was up in the press box, which was shut down. He was like, ‘I can’t get out at all, but just stay put. Do not cross the field and be out in the middle of the open. Like, stay hidden.'”

So, she did and later found all of her cheerleading team safe and sound.

Police say no weapons were fired from the suspect or from officers on scene.

News 12 asked District Attorney-elect Coty Wamp earlier about why the suspect in the Finley fight and the mall shooting would be free a year later, and here’s what she says:

“One of my commitments is to transfer more violent juvenile offenders from juvenile court to be tried as adults. The new District Attorney is drawing a line in the sand. We are seeing more juveniles as both offenders and victims, and it’s unacceptable. Part of my job is to deter criminal behavior, and one way I’ll do that is by holding dangerous juveniles accountable.”