NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – There was a deadly shootout Monday in the Gulch after Metro Nashville Police officers tracked down a man wanted for attempted murder. The suspect is dead and an officer is recovering. WSMV4 Investigator Courtney Allen uncovered online records that show the suspect was a convicted felon from North Carolina with firearm, drug, burglary and other charges dating back to 2012.
“We looked up and saw the cops and that they had someone on the ground,” Annika Bayless said.
Bayless owns Prickly Pear Coffee Co., right next to where the shooting happened.
“The fact that this would happen at, I don’t know, 11:15 on a Monday morning when we are serving coffee is crazy,” Bayless said.
Metro Police said it all started Sunday when 29-year-old Tadarius Hunt shot a worker at the Nashville Rescue Mission, where Hunt was staying, 11 times. Monday morning, a Central Precinct officer spotted Hunt on Division Street near 8th Avenue. Police body camera footage showed the officer asking Hunt to come toward him. Instead, Hunt continued toward the Division Street Bridge. There, he was approached by a second officer.
“Officers went on one side of Hunt, then on the other side of Hunt and demanded that he stop,” Don Aaron with MNPD said. “Instead, he tried to juke like a football player would juke around the officers.”
Video showed Hunt pulling out a pistol and firing, grazing an officer in the leg. Officers fired back and shot Hunt. He died at the hospital.
“It is not business as usual when you witness a life being lost and then an officer being shot at,” Bayless said. “None of this is okay. My biggest concern right now is just the safety of my employees and my guests as they come to get a coffee,” Bayless said.
Bayless said the up-and-coming South Gulch is getting busier.
“So many of our guests are just walking, a lot of foot traffic,” Bayless said. “We have Federales now and multiple apartment buildings, and a hotel going in.”
Bayless said they have been requesting more Metro Police presence in the area.
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“So hopefully this will change that,” Bayless said.
The officer is expected to be okay, while the Nashville Rescue Mission worker is still in critical condition. We are working to learn how Hunt got the gun and how long he has been in Tennessee.
The Nashville Rescue Mission did tell WSMV4’s Courtney Allen that he first came to stay on April 29. They said they had no further information regarding the nature of his stay there.
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