Nashville cop stripped of authority after interstate police killing of Landon Eastep
A Metro Nashville Police Department officer who shot a man along Interstate 65 has been stripped of his police authority, the agency announced Friday.
Officer Brian Murphy, a 25-year MNPD veteran, is one of nine officers who fatally opened fire on a 37-year-old man Thursday as he stood in the middle of Interstate 65 holding a box cutter and an unidentified "metal, cylindrical object," the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reported.
In addition to MNPD officers, Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers and an off-duty Mt. Juliet officer fatally shot Landon Eastep near Harding Place, about 10 miles south of downtown.
In a meeting with his deputy chiefs this afternoon, Police Chief John Drake directed Murphy be decommissioned, meaning he loses his police authority, pending a review and the investigation of his actions at the scene.
Police identified Murphy as the person who fired the final two shots from a rifle in the shooting.
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The other five MNPD officers who fired — Justin Pinkelton, a 25-year MNPD veteran; Sean Williams, a 17-year MNPD veteran; Sgt. Steven Carrick, an eight-year MNPD veteran; Edin Plancic, a six-year MNPD veteran; and James Kidd, who joined the department last February; are on routine administrative assignment at this stage of the investigation.
On Friday, at The Tennessean's request, The Mt. Juliet Police Department released the name of its off-duty officer who fired shots. Officials identified him as Corporal Fabjan Llukaj, who has been with the department for just over one year. Lluka also previously served three years with MNPD's force.
The THP identified two its troopers involved as Trooper Reggie Edge and Sgt. Charles Achinger.
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"While the TBI conducts its investigation of the shooting on behalf of the district attorney, I have directed that our training academy staff thoroughly examine how our officers positioned themselves in this multi-agency response and as well review the tactics and procedures used in relation to those that we teach,” Drake said. “This department regularly reviews critical incidents, and the work on this one has begun. I am saddened by any loss of life, and I send my condolences to the Eastep family.”
Natalie Neysa Alund is based in Nashville at The Tennessean and covers breaking news across the South for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at nalund@tennessean.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville cop stripped of duty after police killing of Landon Eastep
