Nashville police officer fatally shot a man after his mother reported violent threats Adam Tamburin, Nashville Tennessean UP NEXT
A Nashville police SWAT officer fatally shot a homeless man Saturday evening, hours after the man s mother told an emergency dispatcher he had threatened mass murder in a text message.
Police said the man, identified as Jacob Alexander Griffin, 23, was armed and fired a gun multiple times near officers before he was fatally shot. No officers were hurt.
Police released an 11-minute video Sunday that included audio from the mother s call and snippets of body camera footage showing interactions from the hours-long lead-up to the gunfire.
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Around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Karen Griffin called 911 to report that her son, 23-year-old Jacob Griffin, had been threatening to kill her and others. During the call, audio of which was released by the Metro Nashville Police Department on Sunday morning, Griffin told a dispatcher that her son was schizophrenic and living in the wooded area behind a Goodwill store in South Nashville. Heâd recently been fired from the Goodwill, she said, and had repeatedly made comments over the past three or four months about going into the store and shooting people.
âHe does have a gun,â she said. âHe has texted me pictures of a full magazine of bullets this morning. So he is armed and I personally would consider him dangerous. He has never actually been violent. I really donât want the police to kill him, but I donât want him to kill anyone else either.â
The video included audio from an emergency call made by Griffin’s mother, who said her son was threatening mass violence. She said her son was angry about being fired from a local store six months ago.
After several hours, as officers moved in planning to use police dogs and rubber bullets to take him into custody, Griffin fired a shot. Nashville SWAT Officer Matthew Grindstaff then shot Griffin, who was pronounced dead at a hospital.
No officers were injured. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Nashville police are investigating the incident.
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