North Nashville residents demand answers after Cinco de Mayo shootout
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — After a Wild West type gun battle broke out on a North Nashville street earlier this month, community members have some serious questions for police and city leaders.
Surveillance footage from Owen Street, just off Buchanan Street, around 7:45 p.m. on May 5 shows a gun battle involving multiple shooters.
According to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD), three men in their 20s were hit by bullets. All three were brought to local hospitals in private vehicles, but none of their wounds were considered life-threatening.
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News 2 spoke to a 30-year-old medical professional who lives near the scene of the incident. The woman said she was with her 60-year-old mother, returning from a Mexican restaurant, when gunfire suddenly broke out.
Because of the violent nature of the incident and the pending investigation, the woman did not want to reveal her identity.
“I replay it in my head just about every single day,” she said while looking at the surveillance footage.
The video shows a man in white chasing a black van and apparently aiming the pistol in his hand. Moments later, the man can be seen crouching behind a car, returning gunfire, and limping away, saying multiple times he had been hit.
“I did not see that he had a gun at the time, and at the time that he and I were interacting, I did not know that he was actually one of the shooters,” the woman explained.
About 10 seconds later, another man wearing a brightly-colored shirt entered the frame in the video. The man fired five rounds in the direction of the van, which was out of frame.
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The 30-year-old woman moved to Music City four years ago from Alabama. She told News 2 that hearing gunfire in North Nashville is not uncommon, but the gun battle on Cinco de Mayo was something completely different.
Since the woman works in the medical field, when the gunfire died down, she said she went into the street to render aid to the man who said he had been hit.
“He did have an abdominal gunshot wound that I could clearly see. I was a mere 3 feet away from him,” the woman recalled, adding that the man was bleeding from his back since the bullet went through and through.
Shortly afterward, dozens more rounds spilled across Owen Street near Buchanan Street. The 30-year-old, who was barefoot at the time, tried to get out of harm’s way.
While she moved toward safety, a car — which she said had been illegally parked for hours and was with one of the men involved in the shooting — pulled out of the parking spot, almost running her over. However, the woman got to safety as the bullets continued firing.
“I believe my mind just completely shut down for an instant. It was, ‘Oh my God, okay, have I been hit?'” the woman recalled.
“Do you look back on that video now and say, ‘Oh my God, I could have been killed?'” News 2’s Andy Cordan asked.
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“Absolutely,” the woman replied. “At first, it was a fight or flight response, and the medical in me that was thinking the injured person needs help.”
News 2 interviewed multiple residents in the area, all of whom said there are major issues that must be addressed by city leaders. Those issues include illegal parking, rowdy bars and night spots, and now violent gun battles.
One man told News 2 he wrote a letter to Metro Council about these matters, but he hasn’t heard anything back.
Meanwhile, a female resident said she hopes these issues are being taken seriously, adding that there’s chaos in the neighborhood Thursdays through Sundays.
The 30-year-old medical professional said she watches the video and thought about how she could have been hurt or killed.
“If they want to keep people like you moving in, what would you say to the mayor about incidents like Cinco de Mayo?” Cordan asked.
“They have got to cut this down…They’ve got to get some protection here, some hard core enforcement. Otherwise, these people that have moved in thinking that this was safer area to live in are going to begin contemplating moving out,” the woman responded.
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On Wednesday, May 22, Metro police said they arrested 27-year-old Jonquon Woodard for reckless endangerment.
According to a report from MNPD, shortly after 7:45 p.m. on May 5, the Department of Emergency Communications got a call about shots fired and multiple people being shot in the 1000 block of Buchanan Street. Woodard and two others went to the hospital with gunshot wounds shortly after the initial incident.
Authorities said non-lethal shooting detectives spoke to Woodard, who claimed he didn’t remember much, including how he arrived at the hospital. However, he said he was walking his “heavily intoxicated cousin” to their vehicle when he heard gunshots and was hit by gunfire.
After reviewing of cameras in the area, investigators said they spotted Woodard taking part in the gunfire, adding that the video shows Woodard running on Owens Street with a gun in his hands and firing multiple rounds at some unknown person(s).
“When Mr. Woodard saw the video, he agreed that he was the individual shooting but does not remember the incident. You can clearly see in the video vehicles driving on the street in the direction Mr. Woodard was firing his weapon,” the MNPD report states. “Mr. Woodard showed no regard for any other innocent person or persons property during the shooting.”
According to officials, more arrests are possible in connection with the ongoing investigation into this shooting.
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Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s office did not offer a comment about the shooting investigation, but the following release was issued Wednesday afternoon:
Mayor O’Connell shared in his State of Metro address that he was encouraged by some of our community initiatives related to public safety — and that homicide is down considerably year to date compared to last year. Still, there is work to be done. One of those community-based programs is the hiring of three credible messengers and a case manager thanks to a $2 million dollar grant the city received last fall. The credible messengers are individuals who have lived experiences overcoming violence. The credible messengers work with police and meet with both perpetrators and victims of crime to connect them with resources before they fall into a cycle of violence. That work focuses on individuals from 18-24 years old. The grant also funds the hiring of a clinician (which the health department is hoping to have hired soon) who will provide mental health treatment to people that the credible messengers meet with. The credible messengers play a critical role in stopping cycles of violence, and they help connect individuals with social services they will benefit from.
Meanwhile, Metro police confirmed that since the Cinco de Mayo shooting, covert officers and more obvious patrols have been working the area.
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