(C) Tennessee Lookout
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Nashville shooting sparks renewed pleas for an end to gun violence • Tennessee Lookout [1]
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Date: 2024-10-14
Ten people were shot during a celebration in Nashville on Saturday in an event that could spur further gun regulation debates among lawmakers in Tennessee’s upcoming legislative session.
A barrage of gunfire interrupted Tennessee State University Homecoming celebrations on Nashville’s historic Jefferson Street Saturday evening, injuring six adults, three children and killing 24-year-old Vonquae Johnson.
Crowds were still lining the street a few hours after the annual Homecoming parade when shots rang out. Some mistook the rapid pops as fireworks at first. To 58-year-old Rauf Muhammad, it sounded like he was “in a war somewhere.”
He was selling chicken wings out of a booth on the sidewalk near the corner of 27th Avenue and Jefferson, where police say two groups exchanged gunfire just after 5 p.m. He pointed out a spot within view of his tent about an hour after the shooting where one victim’s blood was still visible on the asphalt.
“I hear the gunshots going, I’m hitting the ground,” he said. “Bullets don’t have no eyes.”
Three girls, ages 12, 14 and 14, suffered “non-critical” injuries in the shooting, Metro Nashville police spokesperson Don Aaron said Saturday night. Six other adults taken to local hospitals sustained injuries ranging from graze wounds to life-threatening injuries, according to police. A 55-year-old woman in critical condition underwent surgery Saturday night at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Police had not yet announced any arrests made in connection with the shooting as of Sunday evening. Investigators suspect at least one of the people taken to the hospital was involved in the gunfire, Aaron said.
On Saturday morning, school bands, dance troupes and community groups paraded down Jefferson Street to great fanfare. The road was reopened to traffic just 20 minutes before the shooting, Aaron said. The crowd was starting to thin as people flocked toward Nissan Stadium to watch the game, but the parking lots remained full. Vendors’ tents still clustered on street corners. Law enforcement officers and firefighters remained in the area after the parade.
About two hours after the shooting, the block was nearly silent as police officers scoured the street, parking lot and now-abandoned vendor tents for evidence behind a web of crime scene tape. They recovered a handgun from the scene.
“This type of gun violence has just gotta stop,” Aaron said. “We would never expect this to have taken place. There were police officers everywhere, as well as firefighters.”
Nashville Fire Department crews that stayed after the parade quickly took action to help those wounded, ripping off their belts to use as tourniquets, spokesperson Kendra Loney said during a news conference.
The fire department took five people to area hospitals, and five others arrived at hospitals in private vehicles, according to police.
“While we don’t wish any ill on anyone, we are upset,” Loney said. “We are angry about that disruption. We are angry that there were persons whose days were disrupted, that the innocence in this event was taken away and that lives were endangered.”
Jashawna Rucker said she was “right there” when the shooting began. Once she realized she heard gunshots, not fireworks, she started running, “just hoping that God would save me,” she said. She said she almost fell as she scrambled to get away. There was no warning that something was wrong before the gunfire erupted — suddenly, the crowd was in chaos with people crying as they fled, she said.
It was her second year attending the homecoming celebration with family and friends. She recently graduated high school.
“It’s sad because now-a-days you can’t do nothing,” Rucker said. “You can’t do nothing, you can’t … go outside and have fun or nothing. And there’s kids around. It’s very sad that this kind of incident has happened.”
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[1] Url:
https://tennesseelookout.com/2024/10/14/nashville-shooting-sparks-renewed-pleas-for-an-end-to-gun-violence/
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