Alfred Williams, a 61-year-old Black man, was working a regular shift at the Brainerd Road Walmart in Chattanooga when gunfire erupted outside the store on December 31, 2019. Just after midday, in the busy shopping-center parking lot at 490 Greenway View Drive, a shooter opened fire in what police described as a targeted attack. Williams, who was nearby on break, was struck as shots tore through the area and sent shoppers scrambling for cover.
Police indicated the intended target was a 23-year-old man, who was also shot but survived with non-life-threatening injuries. Witnesses described the chaos—people ducking behind cars, rushing into the store for safety, and trying to understand whether the danger was still close. Investigators said the shooter fled before officers arrived, and early on they had not released a description; they also acknowledged they were still trying to pin down whether one person fired or whether there could have been more than one shooter.
In the days that followed, Williams’ condition proved fatal. Chattanooga police were notified that he had died from his injuries on January 3, 2020, turning the case into a homicide investigation. Inside the store, coworkers and community members built a memorial—flowers, candles, and a visible reminder near the department where he worked—while detectives appealed for tips that might identify the person who pulled the trigger.
As the city processed what had happened, officials publicly framed Williams’ final moments as an act of courage. A Chattanooga City Council resolution memorialized him as a devoted husband and father who showed “extreme courage and selflessness,” crediting him with shielding and saving lives during the New Year’s Eve shooting. The tribute echoed what coworkers had been saying since the first reports: that in the split second when bullets started flying, Williams was thinking about other people’s safety, not his own.
No arrests or named suspects have been publicly tied to the killing in the reporting and public tracking available online. A year later, Williams’ family said they still did not know who was responsible, and the case continued to be listed publicly as having no suspect.
