JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Upgraded charges are possible for a man police say fired shots at Monarch Apartments when a 19-year-old Kingsport man was fatally shot early News Years Day, Johnson City police said Friday.
According to an affidavit charging him with 12 counts of reckless endangerment, Dae’Vo Amir Jennings Worrell, 22, was identified by witnesses as shooting into the apartment when Ja’Shon Yates was hit.
The affidavit filed by Johnson City Police Investigator Brady Higgins says Yates was shot three times in the chest and abdomen and that when police arrived, several people were attempting to perform CPR on him in a hallway. He was transported by EMS to Johnson City Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The scene was chaotic, with upwards of 50 people at the party and several fights breaking out just prior to the shooting, the affidavit reads.
Johnson City police charged Worrell, of 409 W. 9th Ave., Johnson City, Thursday in relation to the shootings that occurred at a Monarch building around 2:30 a.m. Sunday. He was arraigned in Washington County General Sessions Court Friday, during which Judge Jonathan Minga refused to lower his $100,000 bond.
According to the Johnson City Police Department (JCPD) affidavit, multiple witnesses told police that a door to Apartment 4205 was pushed open “and they saw a black male in a red hoodie reach into the apartment firing three shots into the apartment striking the victim.”
After the door shut, more shots were fired into a door and wall, the affidavit said, adding, “After interviewing multiple witnesses the suspect was identified as Dae’Vo “Smokey” Jennings-Worrell.”
Police found Worrell and took him to JCPD headquarters for an interview, where he allegedly admitted to firing shots into the door and wall from the hallway but did not admit to firing into the apartment.
Police told News Channel 11 earlier this week that several fights were occurring at the time. The affidavit reports Worrell told police “during the fights, a friend was still in the apartment, when he heard gunshots and he fired into the apartment door to prevent his friend from getting assaulted.”
Friday, JCPD Lt. Don Shepard acknowledged that the reckless endangerment counts include Worrell “being charged with firing shots into the apartment…” Shepard indicated that charges against Worrell could change.
“Often times charges are amended or changed according to information gained through the investigation,” he wrote in an email.
Shell casings were among evidence police collected at the scene, where the affidavit also says they’ve “obtained 12 written statements of victims that have came forward.”
Some of those witnesses told police they jumped from the second-floor balcony and out windows to escape following the shooting.
Worrell faces a preliminary hearing Jan. 11.
