Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero and Police Chief Eve Thomas named Officer David Chandler and Officer Ethan Grantham the May Officers of the Month for the Knoxville Police Department. Officer Chandler has been with KPD since November 2015 while Officer Grantham has been with the department since February 2017.
On May 12, 2018, at about 2:00 p.m., a shooting occurred with a victim on West Scott Avenue at Reed Street in Western Heights. No victim was found at the scene; however, the victim later arrived at a local hospital suffering from a non-life threatening gunshot wound to the head. The victim refused to cooperate with investigators. According to witness statements, a silver car fled the scene and was involved in a hit-and-run after the shooting.
Chief Thomas said, “Although the shooting had occurred in a previous shift, all of the information gathered to that point was shared during Officers’ Chandler and Grantham’s roll call.”
Immediately the officers began to track down leads and gather additional evidence all while continuing to answer calls for service. Within several hours and after two foot pursuits, Officers Chandler and Grantham had two male suspects in custody. One of the suspects was a juvenile. Both suspects had been in the vehicle with the victim. One of the suspects was the driver of the vehicle that fled the scene after the shooting.
Chief Thomas said, “Although the suspects were not cooperating, Officer Chandler and Officer Grantham developed information that led to the recovery of a Dodge pickup that had been stolen from a rental company in which the suspects had been driving.”
The officers later located the silver Lexus that had been involved in the earlier shooting and hit & run. Inside the vehicle, they recovered a stolen handgun and multiple shell casings, which led them to believe that the passengers in the car were also shooting a weapon.
Chief Thomas said, “Officers Chandler and Grantham were very professional, diligent and productive with this investigation. There is no doubt that by these two officers going the extra mile to investigate this violent shooting, even though the supposed victim refused to cooperate, helped reduce more violent behavior by the parties involved. Several neighbors approached the officers on the scene of the arrests and thanked them for helping to clean up their neighborhood.”