Press Release

March 30, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 Attempted murder warrants will be sought this evening against Aaron Gooch for this afternoon’s gang-related attempted “hit” on Clifton Avenue at 28th Avenue North.

Kenneth “Little Kenny” Ellis, 23, who is affiliated with the Gangster Disciples Gang, was shot, apparently by Gooch, after he came out of a business.  Gooch, 20, is affiliated with the Bloods gang.

The police department’s Gang Unit received information that a “hit” was likely at 28th & Clifton and members were responding to the area.  The first to arrive, Detective Gerry Hyder, saw Gooch firing on Ellis in the parking lot of a

Laundromat as he pulled onto Clifton Avenue from 28th.  Hyder stopped his vehicle in the middle of the street, took cover behind it, and yelled for Gooch to drop his gun and get on the ground.  Gooch, who was moving on foot through the parking lot, refused to comply.  Hyder fired on Gooch in defense of himself and others in the immediate area.  Gooch was hit in the hip area and went down in the parking lot.  Hyder went to him and rendered aid while calling for assistance and an ambulance.

While Detective Hyder was focused on Gooch, Ellis, who had received gunshot wounds to his legs from Gooch’s bullets, made his way across the street into a nail salon.  Witnesses there said Ellis, who was armed with a gun of his own, made his way out the back door.  He tried to flee the area on foot but collapsed in a nearby field as the result of his wounds.

Ellis is in stable condition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.  Gooch is in critical condition.
Detective Hyder is credited with preventing the murder of Ellis.  Hyder, 38, a nine-year police department veteran, is on routine administrative assignment, as is customary in police shooting matters.

The Gang Unit, based on intelligence it has gathered, believes the shooting of Ellis to be retaliation motivated.  The Gang Unit’s investigation of Ellis and Gooch, along with others believed to be associated with this case, is active and continuing.

Ellis was convicted of aggravated robbery in 2007 and received an eight-year sentence.  He was on parole at the time of today's shooting.