Nashville homeless man charged with attempted murder of couple
A homeless man was charged with two counts of attempted murder Sunday after he attacked a husband and wife with a machete at a Public Storage warehouse in Pie Town, according to police.
Metro Nashville Police said in a release that Kelvin Edwards, 35, randomly attacked the couple as they waited as customers inside the office of the storage facility at 800 Fifth Ave. S., located across from a Greyhound Bus Lines terminal and next to the Landing Strip strip club.
Kevin Craft, 55, and Leanne
Craft, 50, are in critical condition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center after six MNPD officers applied multiple tourniquets. Police said Edwards continued to strike the victims, even after they were on the floor badly bleeding.
Edwards told police that he was frustrated by the coronavirus pandemic and that he could not enter the Rescue Mission, so he demonstrated his anger in a violent act on people he did not know.
Police received the emergency call at 2:47 p.m. Nashville Rescue Mission CEO Glenn Cranfield said security camera footage showed Edwards was denied access to the homeless shelter at 2:29 p.m., because he did not provide proof of a COVID19 negative test.
Cranfield declined to provide the video footage, but he said the police could obtain it if requested.
Beginning March 27, the Rescue Mission began issuing five-day bed tickets to keep occupants in the same bed and adhere to CDC guidelines, according to Cranfield. If an occupant is absent from the shelter for one night, they must test negative for COVID-19 to re-enter.
Cranfield said Edwards left the Mission on March 29 and did not return until Sunday afternoon.
“[Edwards] had his temperature checked and verified that he didn’t have a [high temperature]. But he did not have a [new] bed ticket, per our new CDC guidelines,” Cranfield said. “He had one, but it was expired from March.
“The staff told him he needed to go to one of the testing facilities, get tested and cleared and to bring that back for a new bed ticket,” Cranfield continued. “He crumpled up the bed ticket that was expired. He threw it on the ground and headed out the door. He was apparently headed toward Middleton Street, and I believe the incident at the storage facility took place about 15 minutes later.”
The Rescue Mission men’s campus is located at 639 Lafayette Street, about a half-mile from the Public Storage warehouse
The Rescue Mission had to turn away homeless people during a seven-day quarantine, but it ended May 11.
Cranfield said Edwards was barred from the shelter for five days in February due to a minor act of violence in the courtyard. After he was allowed to return, he stayed one month and left on his own.
On Monday, Mayor John Cooper began his daily COVID-19 briefing with comments about the attack.
“Yesterday’s attack on Fifth Avenue South is a tragedy,” Cooper said. “This was an act of cruel and senseless violence and my thoughts are with both victims as they continue to fight for their lives at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. I am grateful to the responding officers of the Metro Nashville Police Department for their swift life saving actions.”
According to the release, Edwards had a bin at the storage facility, which apparently contained the machete. Police received the emergency call at 2:47 p.m. After the attack, Edwards walked out of the storage facility, tossed the machete down and stood in the street with his hands raised.
Police said Edwards carried an Arkansas driver’s license with a Little Rock address. But he has been in Nashville since at least 2016, when he was arrested there.