by Charles Gladden

WEST KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, USA, Mon. June 12, 2023

Anfernee Avila, 27, of Punta Gorda Town, Toledo District, lost his life in the U.S. after the vehicle he was driving crashed into an embankment on Sunday, June 11, as he attempted to escape from gunshots with two minor passengers.

Knoxville Police Department Homicide Unit detectives are conducting their investigation, and from what they have gathered, sometime around 9:00 p.m., Avila was driving an orange Dodge Charger, waiting to turn the lane at an intersection, when an unidentified individual exited a car and fired a barrage of gunshots into Avila’s car at point blank range.

He then sped away in an attempt to save his life, but crashed and was found by police personnel, in the damaged vehicle off of the roadway.

Of the minors that were inside Avila’s vehicle at the time of the crash, a 16-year-old female passenger received multiple gunshots and was transported to the UT Medical Center where she remains hospitalized with critical, life-threatening injuries. Meanwhile, a 4-year-old child was in the backseat of the car and was unharmed in the shooting and subsequent crash.

Authorities believe that the suspect was in a red sports car, but that information is yet to be confirmed, and they believe the shooting could have been a case of mistaken identity.