From the Chattanooga Times Free Press: A truck driving trainee allegedly had a pistol and three loaded 9 mm magazines — one of them a 50-round, drum
From the Chattanooga Times Free Press: A truck driving trainee allegedly had a pistol and three loaded 9 mm magazines — one of them a 50-round, drum-style magazine — during a shooting Friday at a truck stop in Cleveland, according to an affidavit.
Jontrell Walter Riley, 23, of Orangeburg, South Carolina, is charged with attempted second-degree murder in the shooting of Djamel Eddine Mahouz, 35, of Columbus, Ohio, during an altercation inside a truck that stemmed from an argument over a missing cellphone, according to a Cleveland, Tennessee, police news release. Riley was also charged with tampering with evidence.
A $250,000 bond was set for Riley on Monday, according to jail records. Cleveland police spokesperson Lt. Evie West said Mahouz, who was initially listed in critical condition at Erlanger hospital in Chattanooga, is still recovering from a gunshot wound.
According to the court affidavit filed by Cleveland police Detective Don Nation, Cleveland police responding to the Pilot Travel Center first found Mahouz, who was reported by store officials to be bleeding from the chest, lying on the floor.
Mahouz named the trainee, Riley, and told officers he and Riley had gotten into an argument, and Riley shot him, the affidavit states.
When officers encountered Riley, he was walking out of the travel center carrying a backpack, according to the affidavit. A “speed-loader” — a device that makes reloading a firearm easier and faster — was allegedly found inside the backpack, the affidavit states. Riley told officers the device was for a firearm he left at home in South Carolina.
Riley told police he was a truck driver trainee and identified Mahouz as his trainer, the affidavit states. The two men had no problems, he contended, and Riley said he booked a shower inside the store and had been on the phone with his brother while waiting for a vacant stall.
When Riley got into the shower, he told police, an announcement was made over the intercom that the store was closing, so he collected his belongings and walked outside when he encountered the officers, according to the affidavit.
After Nation told Riley he was identified by the alleged victim, Riley allegedly gave a different account of the argument over the missing cellphone.
“Mr. Riley then stated that the argument became physical when Mr. Mahouz hit the back of his head near his right ear,” Nation’s affidavit states. “Mr. Riley then stated that he pulled his Glock 9 mm and shot Mr. Mahouz one time, and then went into the Pilot Center to take a shower.”
After the shot was fired, Riley said when he left the shower he threw the firearm into a vacant parking lot where another officer found it later, the affidavit states.
“Lying around the pistol were two magazines loaded with 9 mm ammunition and a 50-round drum loaded with 9 mm ammunition,” Nation said in the affidavit.
Riley faces a court appearance on Feb. 22, according to jail records.
