Nashville police chief’s son is suspect in shooting of two officers outside store
Authorities in Tennessee were searching on Sunday for the estranged son of Nashville’s police chief as the suspect in the shooting of two police officers outside a Dollar General store.
Officers in La Vergne, a city about 20 miles (32km) south-east of Nashville, were investigating a stolen vehicle outside the store on Saturday afternoon when they struggled with the suspect, who pulled a handgun and shot them, said the local police chief, Christopher Moews.
Investigators identified the suspect as John C Drake Jr, 38, who is the son of Nashville’s metropolitan police department chief, John Drake.
One of the officers was shot twice, in the groin and right forearm, while the other officer was hit in the rear left shoulder. Both were taken to Nashville’s Vanderbilt University medical center.
One of the officers was released from the hospital on Saturday night.
The other officer was kept overnight for observation and was in stable condition, said Anne Smith, a spokesperson for the city of La Vergne. Their identities have not been released.
The police chief issued a statement on Saturday confirming his son was the suspect in the shooting. Drake said they were estranged and over many years he had had only minimal contact with his son. The younger Drake is a convicted felon who “resorted to years of criminal activity”, he said.
“He now needs to be found and held accountable for his actions today. I hope that anyone who sees him or has information about him will contact law enforcement immediately,” Drake said in the statement.
Tennessee’s bureau of investigation said in a social media post that a statewide alert had been issued for Drake, who was wanted on two counts of attempted first-degree murder. Smith said about a dozen law enforcement agencies were involved in the search.
After the shooting, the La Vergne police issued a shelter-in-place order for residents in the city. The shelter order was later lifted while the search for Drake continued, the department said in a social media post.