May 21, 2012
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Authorities identified the man wounded in a drive-by shooting in Mechanicsville Tuesday night. Rayterrious Johnson, 21, shot several times and taken to UT Medical Center with what officials described as "potentially life-threatening injuries."
Police had no further information at the time.
Officers found Johnson on a basketball court after responding to a shooting call at a home on the corner of Moses Ave. and Wallace Street, near downtown Knoxville.
"They have no regard for anyone's safety. Their own safety or anyone that may be caught up in one of these incidents. That's just their mind-set, they don't care," said Knoxville PD Spokesman Darrell DeBusk.
"It's disturbing that we have just lost all respect for humanity for human life," said Keira Brooks, with Connect Ministries.
Wyatt works to clean up communities and curb violence.
Her husband grew up in Mechanicsville, and still has friends in the neighborhood. It's an area that she calls it a social melting pot.
"You have to ask yourself what's motivating us to act in such an inhumane way. Why are we treating each other like this?" asked Wyatt.
She tells me the late city councilman Danny Mayfield would pray for a non violent solutions to problems.
Just a few blocks from the park that bears Mayfield's name, Johnson was struck by a bullet.
"That young man, I pray and hope that he makes it. But suppose that he's somebody's father, he's somebody's son, brother. That life means something to somebody," said Brooks.
We talked to Johnson's brother, and he says Rayterrious is in critical condition, but is stable.
Officials believe the shooter took off in a black Honda with tinted windows. They are asking anyone with information to contact their local authorities.
