Whether a man was shot by a Chattanooga police officer or instead suffered only a self-inflicted wound was unclear Sunday evening following a press release from the police.
On Friday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in its own press release it had been asked by Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp to investigate what the agency described as an “officer-involved shooting” on Friday morning in the 200 block of Kings Point Road near the Chickamauga Dam.
The TBI said Chattanooga police officers had responded to a call about a man threatening to harm himself, and that the man and an officer, for reasons still under investigation, both fired their weapons. The press release said the man was later transported to a hospital with a gunshot wound.
Sunday’s statement by Chattanooga police said officers gave verbal commands for the man, 31, to drop his weapon, but he refused, then fired one shot, resulting in what police described as a “self-inflicted injury.” The police statement then added that an officer fired one shot.
The TBI press release Friday made no mention of a self-inflicted wound.
When asked by the Chattanooga Times Free Press on Sunday whether the man had suffered only a self-inflicted wound or had also been struck by the officer’s shot, police spokesperson Heather Holley said by email: “That is part of the ongoing investigation”
Police said four officers involved in the incident were placed on administrative leave, per department policy.
— Compiled by Lew Gilliland