Chattanooga Pulse

The news media is often accused of focusing solely on “bad news”.  At the same time, we are often accused on not covering the “real stories”.  It often feels like a no-win situation, as the “real stories” in the city of late have revolved around some very bad news: an apparent dramatic increase in violence.

Over the past week, there was a failed home invasion, two more shootings, a machete attack and a drive-by shooting in a house.  Not to mention a shooting in a Signal Mountain chiropractic clinic involving the doctor and his ex-wife.

Last Thursday, a 68-year-old man on Westside Drive foiled an attempted home invasion by defending his home from three intruders dressed in red by firing at them with a rifle when they came into his house.  Police were able to capture and arrest four suspects, Gabriel Williams, 24, Cornitna Benn, 22, Justin Sexton, 21, and Darrius Simmons, 20. Simmons attempted to flee after having his vehicle stopped by police and was captured after he fell down a steep hill.  Williams had been released from jail two days earlier.

On Friday, Tina Loher showed up at the Signal Mountain Chiropractic Clinic and, according to police reports, got into a struggle with her ex-husband, Dr. Terry Loher, in the process shooting him the leg.  At press time, Dr. Loher remains at Erlanger Hospital in critical condition.

Early Sunday morning in the parking lot behind Club Deep Blue on Brainerd Road, Jeffrey Parrish was shot in the hip by Alex Freeman III, who was arrested and charged with attempted murder along with several other charges.

Later that morning on Hargraves Avenue, Orlando Warren and Tracy Calloway were returning to Calloway’s residence when several vehicles pulled up alongside them and the people inside began firing at them.  Warren was shot in the shoulder while Calloway was run over by one of the vehicles as she attempted to flee the gunfire.

Then on Sunday night, a man showed up at East Ridge Hospital suffering wounds he said he received after being attacked by a man wielding a machete.  Also in the past week, a woman on Fall Creek Road called police after she heard a noise outside her house at 3 a.m. that turned out to have been caused by someone shooting out the plate glass window in the front of her residence.

This may sound like a typical week in any large metropolitan city, but is not even remotely common for Chattanooga.  This is a city known for friendly citizens and safe neighborhoods.  And yet, in spite of the perception of increased violent crime—for the month of June, there were nine reported shooting incidents worked by the Chattanooga Police Department Major Crimes Division—in comparing the number of shootings from this year to last year, the number is the same: 38. Violent crime from 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 has declined. Even in spite of a rash of high-profile incidents, the city is currently down 8 percent from last year in violent crime.

And while the statistics tell us that violent crime is down overall, one can only look around at what has happened last week, the past month and the past three months and wonder if we are in the midst of a new summer of violence or if this is, once again, a situation where perception does not equal reality.