Bullet holes found in door, teen confesses to shooting, police say

Note: This story was updated at 8 p.m.

An Oak Ridge teenager already in jail after a search of a Utica Circle home allegedly found narcotics and a semi-automatic pistol has confessed to a shooting at a home on Bethune Circle where residents reported multiple bullet holes in their front door early Thursday morning, authorities said Tuesday.

The incident began just before 3 a.m. Thursday when the Oak Ridge Police Department responded to a “shots fired” call in the Scarboro neighborhood. Police saturated the neighborhood with patrol units and interviewed potential witnesses, but no evidence of a shooting was found, the ORPD said in a press release.

A few hours later, though, just before 7:30 a.m. Thursday, residents at the Bethune Circle home reported finding multiple bullet holes in the front door of their home, the press release said.

“Shell casings and other evidence was located and secured by Oak Ridge patrol officers and investigators, indicating at least six shots had possibly been fired near the residence earlier that morning,” the release said.

Meanwhile, armed with a search warrant, the Oak Ridge Police Department Special Projects Unit and Anderson County 7th Judicial Crime Task Force searched a nearby Utica Circle apartment for controlled substances. The ORPD press release said officers seized narcotics, drug paraphernalia, currency believed to be drug proceeds, and a semi-automatic pistol.

They arrested Rayshawn Freeman, 18, and Lorenzo Williams, 19. Both were charged with simple possession of narcotics and drug paraphernalia, possession of narcotics for resale, unlawful possession of a firearm, and violation of the Drug Free School Zone Act, the release said.

Freeman confessed to being the Thursday morning shooter during a Monday evening interview with ORPD investigators at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton, the press release said.

The release said the investigation remains ongoing, with more charges pending.

Warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court said officers found suspected drugs on top of a dresser in a bedroom allegedly belonging to Stewart during Thursday’s search, including 1.1 grams of an off-white rock-like substance believed to be crack cocaine, 3.3 grams of purported marijuana, and five small round blue pills identified as roxicodone. The suspected drugs will be sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for analysis, the warrants said.

Stewart also had a loaded black Smith and Wesson semi-automatic .40 caliber handgun, the warrants said. The warrants said the Utica Circle home is within 1,000 feet of a school zone at La Petite Daycare on Tulsa Road.