Neighbors concerned after shots fired into North Nashville homes

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Metro Police are looking for a gunman who opened fire in a North Nashville neighborhood early Monday morning. One man was seriously injured, and multiple homes were hit by bullets.

Marcellus Bostick said a bullet broke his window just feet away from where he was sleeping. The side of his house was also covered with bullet holes.

“For a minute, I thought it was something on TV,” Bostick said. “It wasn’t. It happened so quick I couldn’t do nothing but hit the floor.”

Metro Police said more than 30 shots rang out at the corner of 24th Avenue North and McKinney Avenue around 1:30 a.m.

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Jackie Baugh has lived in the area for more than 15 years. She was woken up by the gunfire and jumped for cover.

Baugh said shootings used to happen in the area all the time, but it’s gotten much safer, and they’ve never experienced anything like this.

“I was moving side to side like I was dodging the bullets or something,” Baugh said. “I didn’t know where those bullets were going to go. The length of time of the shooting was so intense. I was trying to figure out when it was going to stop.”

The shots were fired from the corner right outside where neighbors Melissa Finklea and Jake Fitzgerald live. The shell casings covered the ground near their front yards where they walk their dogs every day.

They said they were lucky the bullets were shot away from their homes because their bedrooms are right inside from where the shooting happened.

Fitzgerald got up after the final shots were fired and saw the gunman driving away. He called 911 and talked with police when they got on scene to start looking for evidence.

“My bed is literally on that wall,” Fitzgerald said. “I do think about my head being on that side. The house right behind us over there has multiple bullet holes right below the windowsills. It probably penetrated the house.”

They both moved to the area about two years ago and have been surprised by the amount of crime in the area.

When Finklea was first woken up by the gunshots, she thought it was someone trying to break into her home.

“Every day that a bullet doesn’t go through my wall, I consider myself lucky,” Finklea said. “Obviously, it’s incredibly concerning. I bought my house here a couple of years ago and didn’t really understand how prevalent the crime was still in this area and continues to be. My hope is it just gets better over time, and they get control over it.”

Many neighbors said they are concerned the crime will only get worse with school finishing for the summer this week and the gunman still on the run.

Metro Police said the man who was shot is expected to survive and so far has not been cooperating with the investigation.

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