The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff, Wire Reports

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 06:35 PM

Three Arrested In Deadly October 10 Shooting Near Powell High School

KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. (SOURCE: WVLT) -- The Knox County Sheriff's Office said in a news conference Wednesday suspects had been taken into custody and were charged after a vehicle was positively identified as that used in a deadly Powell shooting on Oct. 10.

The suspects were identified as Jorge Ortiz Gonzalez, 21, who was charged with first degree murder and second degree attempted murder and is being held on a $1 million bond; Cameron Brewer, 18, who was also charged with first degree murder and second degree attempted murder and is being held on a $1 million bond; and an unidentified 16-year-old male juvenile, who was charged with felony murder, attempted murder, possession of a gun during a felony, and juvenile in possession of a gun.

Cameron Smith, 19, was pronounced dead at the scene on Oct. 10 after deputies said he and his passenger, 20-year-old Lucas Halliburton, suffered gunshot wounds. Halliburton was treated at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.

Officials said Wednesday the shooting was prompted by a transaction between Halliburton and Gonzalez on Oct. 6 that included the exchange of a small amount of marijuana for fake "motion picture use only" money.

KCSO had been searching for two suspects, described as armed and dangerous, following a deadly shooting on the night of Tuesday, Oct. 10, Powell.

Around 6 p.m. on Oct. 10, deputies said a caller reported a black Ford Mustang chasing a white Chrysler Sebring. Witnesses told dispatchers the Mustang was "aggressively following" the Sebring. Investigators said the passenger started shooting at the Sebring with a handgun after they turned onto Emory Road.

The chase reportedly started on Clinton Highway near Powell Drive and ended when the Sebring came to a stop in the 2500 block of Emory road outside of the Broad Acres neighborhood.

"The surviving passenger said he had no idea why anyone would be shooting at him or his friend or the vehicle," Major Michael MacLean with the Knox County Sheriff's Office said.

Officials found and took into custody a black Mustang believed to be used in the shooting. Officials confirmed Wednesday that vehicle was in fact used on Oct. 10.

Previously, deputies had asked the public for help in locating two black men considered suspects in the case.