Benitiez Williams, 39, a Black man from Chattanooga, Tennessee, was drawn into a dispute that turned deadly on the evening of June 4, 2021. Just before 8:00 p.m., officers were called to the 2000 block of Duncan Avenue on a report that someone had been shot. Hamilton County EMS rushed him to a local hospital with injuries described as life-threatening, but he later died.
Investigators from Chattanooga Police’s Violent Crimes Unit began piecing together what happened in those tense moments on Duncan Avenue. Police said the encounter started as a verbal argument, and in the middle of it a suspect produced a firearm and opened fire. The homicide investigation was launched as detectives worked to identify the shooter and determine exactly how the confrontation escalated. In the public reporting available at the time, authorities had not identified a suspect or announced an arrest connected to the shooting.
Away from the street where the gunfire erupted, Williams was remembered by family as Benitiez Kevin Lamar Williams, born May 11, 1982. His obituary noted he attended Howard High School and Chattanooga State Community College, and it named the loved ones he left behind, including his children, parents, siblings, and a wide circle of relatives and friends.
His death was also recorded among gun-violence fatalities for that date in Chattanooga, underscoring how quickly one argument can harden into an irreversible loss.
