HALLS, Tenn. — Kids were playing at Ward Memorial Park in Halls just before 5 p.m. Tuesday when three cars pulled up and a gun battle erupted, according to witnesses.
“We heard it and I seen all them kids running,” said one woman, who preferred not to give her name.
From her window, Carlean Adams said she could see the bullets flying in a senior center parking lot, just feet from the park and a children’s playground.
“It wasn’t two or three, five or six, it was, like, maybe 20 or 30 shots,” said Adams.
Adams said she was too afraid to go outside, but peeked out from her window and was able to see one man standing in the street firing at one of the cars.
“There’s kids around, people walking up and down the street and they just shooting. No remorse, don’t care who they hit. I’m surprised someone didn’t get shot,” said Adams.
After the shooting, three cars including a silver Chevy Impala, took off north on Highway 210, according to Dyer County Sheriff Jeff Box.
Box said the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office asked his office to intercept the suspects after they crossed the Dyer County line.
During the nine-mile pursuit, Box said one of the suspects tossed a handgun out of the window of the Chevy. He said the handgun had been reported stolen from a gun shop in the Nashville area.
Deputies lost sight of two of the cars, but followed the Chevy to a motel in Dyersburg, where the suspects bailed out.
Box said deputies apprehended a woman and then arrested two men who were running down South Main Street.
“Y’all need to stay y’all tail where y’all live at and keep that drama where y’all live at ‘cause Halls is a nice, quiet place,” said a Halls resident who heard the initial gunfire.
Even though all was quiet Wednesday, Adams said it may be a while before she shakes the memories of Tuesday’s shootout.
“It was the most frightening thing I’ve ever seen. I’ve never been afraid to live here until yesterday,” said Adams.
The Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office referred WREG to the Halls Police Department when WREG called to ask for the suspects’ names and charges. No one answered when WREG called Halls police.