Teen Dies in Brownsville Shooting
Brownsville, TENN. – Brownsville Police say more than 20 shots pierced the darkness on Norris Street in Brownsville, Friday night. Neighbors say they ran inside to avoid the gun fire that left one seventeen year old with critically wounded. Monica West lives on Norris Street and heard the gun shots. “We thought it was a fire cracker, but it was a gun going off. We couldn’t tell what direction it was coming from so we just stayed in the house last night till it was over with,” she said. Brownsville Police said around 9:15 P.M. they received reports of shots being fired. A few minutes later they received an emergency call from a BP gas station saying a male victim had been shot in the head. Lt. Chuck Willis says the shooting happened on Norris street and why the teenagers drove from the scene of the crime about a tenth of a mile to the nearby gas station is still under investigation. Lt. Willis says after questioning the seventeen year old driver of the car he was taken into custody. He is currently being held at a Shelby County Juvenile Detention Center. “The juvenile that’s in custody now was charged with reckless endangerment and possession of a hand gun,” Willis said. Willis says Brownsville Police worked both the gas station and Norris Street crime scenes until around 5:00 A.M. He believes more shooters may have been involved because more than twenty shots were fired. “I think it’s more sad than anything, maybe not surprising but saddening. These are two individuals who haven’t even started their lives yet,” he said. Both the teen arrested as well as the gun shot victim are seventeen and from Hardeman County. The victim was airlifted to the Med in Memphis and died over the weekend “We just gotta pray for these kids and just pray everything will be alright because we got way to many young folk dying on the streets now,” neighbor Monica West said. Brownsville Police say they are still investigating what the teenagers were doing in the city. “This violent act may end one life and will definitely or possibly end another for the rest of his life in prison,” Lt. Willis said. The juvenile being held at the Shelby County Juvenile Detention Center will be before a judge Monday morning. Lt. Willis says if tried the 17-year-old could be tried as an adult.
