July 06, 2005

Shooting in the Park

I had a group of friends who were going to the Movies in the Park at Centennial Park tonight, but I couldn't make it early due to an prior engagement. I did end up arriving later, and was informed by my friends that there had been a shooting.

According to news reports, the driver of a car was shot by a Park Ranger:

Metro Nashville Police said a man was shot several times in the chest after a Metro Park Ranger tried to stop a car that was being driven across the grass.

Police said the ranger chased the driver of the car, but that the ranger feared for his safety when he thought the car was coming toward him. Police said that’s when the ranger shot the driver of the car.

The report doesn't give many details and seems to imply that the driver was simply driving through the grass. However, from eyewitness accounts, it looked like the car had entered the park at a high rate of speed to possibly get away from the police (from what had looked like a pursuit), but the Park Rangers had blocked the exits. Some others had witnessed police cars and sirens before the shots were actually heard.

One person who witnessed the actual shooting said that the Ranger who shot the driver was beside the car before moving in front of it. From the eyewitness:

The Ranger was standing on the drivers side of the car and then walked around to the front corner of the car...it seems that the bullet holes were straight on...when I first saw the ranger and the car they were parallel with one another...the car had already started into the grass so the officer must have ran around in front of the car or at least far enough ahead of the car to fire the shots into it.

There are still several unanswered questions, but I would say that overall, it made for an interesting night at Centennial Park.

Comments:

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Dude. Nashville is going downhill fast.

Posted by: Jill at July 8, 2005 12:05 PM