MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It was a call WREG reporter Bridget Chapman never expected, a man complaining about a child custody case that had just ended and a judge not allowing him to see his child.
“He said now I am gonna take matters into my own hands. My stomach just dropped,” said Chapman.
The man told her she would see what he meant in a few seconds.
“All of a sudden I hear about five gunshots on the phone and the line hangs up after that. I immediately called 911,” said Chapman.
The dispatcher said without a name or an address, not much could be done. So Chapman didn’t know what happened on the other end.
What she also didn’t know was around the same time the people who live at a home on Charlotte in South Memphis heard gunfire outside their home, while they were inside with young children.
Neighbor James Ray heard it too.
“I did hear gunshots. The next thing I knew police were out here and they were over the neighbor’s house,” said Ray.
Derrick Tyler and Faith Jefferson told police three to four shots were fired in their house. We saw bullet holes there Thursday.
Jefferson is the mother of Gary Rutherford’s child and said they had been in court earlier and he was irate about not getting custody.
A neighbor who heard he gunfire saw a man with a gun get into a Chrysler 300, the same type of car Rutherford drives.
We caught up with Rutherford by phone and asked him if he shot at the house with kids, including his own.
“I did not shoot at my baby. Y’all not gonna make me shoot at my baby. That is not gonna happen. That is my child in there. That will be crazy as heck,” said Rutherford.
He said he was at the house but only set off firecrackers and his ex is claiming this so he can never see his child.
Memphis Police are now looking into the case.
WREG did call police yesterday after Chapman heard the gunfire, but they needed more information. By Thursday morning, once she got the police report, we connected the dots.
“I saw in writing. Every detail added up. The time, the car, the amount of gunshots. Everything just added up,” said Chapman.
Luckily no one was hurt.
WREG also looked into Rutherford’s background and found he filed a police report against the mother of his child last year, saying she pulled out a gun when he went to pick up their daughter.
UPDATE: Gary Rutherford has been arrested and charged with seven counts of reckless endangerment.
