Nashville pastor mentored teen involved in library shooting
Pastor said he wanted to work with the teens to prevent something happening like Thursday’s shooting.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A Nashville pastor said he is angry after he learned a teen he tried to help was involved in a shooting at a Nashville Public Library on Thursday.
The shooting happened at the Bordeaux Branch library and three teens face charges.
It’s the first time Nashville Public Library said it has had an active shooter inside one of their buildings.
Friday, the library was closed and quiet. The doors were locked and there was not a patron in sight.
The only people nearby were administrators who said they came to check the damage inside the bathroom where Metro Nashville Police said teens fired gunshots.
It’s a sound Pastor Howard Jones said no one should ever hear inside such a peaceful place.
“Can you imagine you’re reading, sitting in the library, it’s quiet, and then you hear gunshots?” he said. “And it’s not television, it’s real.”
And it was real when he found out one of the teens who caused the scene was someone he knew. Jones said he saw the teen roaming around the community, so he offered him a part time job holding signs during early voting, even feeding him.
“And they jumped at it!” he said. “Said ‘OK great!’ and I started getting to know who they were – their family, them being in school.”
He said he wanted to corral them and build a relationship to prevent something like Thursday’s shooting from happening.
WSMV4 asked Nashville Public Library if they plan to get metal detectors. They said they are looking into options to improve security, but Jones believes the solution is at the root of the problem.
“As you saw in the Covenant shooting, we got to do more than just metal detectors,” said Jones. “We got to do more than just glass. We got to do more than just having an officer. We got to change the culture of the community.”
Nashville Public Library said while there are no metal detectors in its facilities, it did have a security officer on site at the Bordeaux branch Thursday. The library said employees also followed active shooter protocols.
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