JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Johnson City police are confident that only two people were armed during a five-person altercation downtown that left 18-year-old Charles Dabney dead in the early hours of Sunday — and Dabney wasn’t one of them.
“We believe that this incident started over an argument in the downtown area that led, unfortunately, to the death of Mr. Dabney,” Johnson City Police Department (JCPD) Sgt. Gary Wills said Thursday.
Dabney died of injuries sustained at a scene Wills said police arrived at within two minutes of the shooting just after 2 a.m. Sunday. Three people are jailed in connection with the incident, and Wills said although the most serious charges so far are aggravated assault and reckless endangerment, upgraded charges remain possible.
“We’re still in the early stages of the investigation,” Wills said. “We still have a lot of evidence to process. Once we get that evidence processed, we’ll be speaking with the district attorney’s office about potential charges.”
Wills said JCPD’s investigation has so far found that five people were in a “physical altercation” in Majestic Park, which connects Main and Market streets. The fight was prompted by an earlier argument somewhere else downtown, he said.
Dabney and another man, both unarmed, were shot. An affidavit says Tyron Bland, 34, of Greeneville, and Jayden Smith, 19, of Asheville, N.C., were exchanging shots when Dabney and the other man were hit. The other victim was shot in the leg, treated at a local hospital and released.
Wills said police have interviewed everyone directly involved and have also talked to some people who witnessed what led up to the physical fight, which was caught on camera.
“Luckily, we have great cameras downtown in that area that was able to capture the entire incident,” Wills said.
He said not everyone who was around the men before the outside incident has been questioned yet.
“We were able to look at video (from) throughout the night to determine other people that may have talked to the suspects and the victims in this case,” Wills said.
“Obviously, we’d like to find the people (and) interview everyone that was involved as that is most helpful,” he said. Investigators will also be reviewing evidence left behind by suspects, victims and witnesses.
“Anything like that is obviously very important to our investigation as well as any other video evidence available in the area,” Wills said. He declined to say how many shots are thought to have been fired in what the affidavit described as a “volley of bullets” exchanged by Bland and Smith.
Bland, who was also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, is being held at Washington County Detention Center under a $150,000 bond. He has a Sept. 25 hearing date and would have to wear an ankle monitor if he bonded out.
Smith and Katy Scruggs, 22, of Asheville, who was charged with accessory after the fact, were arrested Wednesday in Asheville and will be extradited to Washington County, Wills said.
He said the JCPD is attempting to increase police presence downtown during peak hours by adding personnel and additional units.
Asked whether JCPD wants to be able file more significant charges given that an unarmed person died, Wills said any such changes will depend on what the evidence and investigation show.
“Right now, our goal through the investigation is to determine exactly what happened through this altercation so that if a charge is to be upgraded we’re able to do that.”
