Second Suspect in Roper Street Killing has been Arrested

The second suspect in the killing of one man and the wounding of anther in the Newcastle Apartments in August has been arrested.

According to Hamilton County Jail booking reports, 22-year-old Jason Sherman Brown, who lived in the apartment complex where the alleged crime happened, was booked into the jail on Sunday on charges of First Degree Murder and Especially Aggravated Robbery.

Brown had been on the run since the Aug. 25 incident at the apartments on Roper Street. East Ridge Police Chief Clint Uselton said Brown turned himself in to authorities at the Hamilton County Jail. Brown had been placed on the TBI’s Most Wanted list. According to TBI’s social media, Brown was known to be in the Tampa, Florida area as recently as Oct. 31.

Jontae Marshun Duckett, 19, of 5700 Roper St., Apt. C2, in East Ridge, is also charged with especially aggravated robbery in regard to the crime.

According to an affidavit of complaint, the paralyzed victim told officers that he and another man were to meet Brown and Duckett at the apartments to sell them 1.5 pounds of marijuana for $1,450. When they got to the apartment complex and began the deal, Brown reached for the marijuana in the backpack that the deceased was carrying and said, “Gimme yo sh–.” A brief struggle ensued before Brown pulled a weapon and shot the victim in the head four times.

The affidavit states that Duckett then drew a pistol and starting firing. The surviving victim attempted to draw his pistol but dropped it before ever getting off a shot.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.