Metro Police have identified one Nashville teen as the suspected gunman that shot four people Monday at downtown’s Music City Central bus station.
Demarcus Kavel Amos, 16, is wanted on one count of attempted murder and three counts of aggravated assault has been issued, according to a news release.
Efforts to locate Amos at his Hawk View Court home have been unsuccessful and he was not at his school, Johnson Alternative Learning Center, on Tuesday, the release says.
Police are asking for help finding the teen and anyone seeing him or knowing his whereabouts is asked to immediately contact the Emergency Communications Center at 615-862-8600 or Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463.
Earlier in the day, a small group of about 40 Nashville community leaders and youth rallied outside downtown's bus station after a shooting there Monday left the four teenagers injured.
The peace rally by the Oasis Center was held as a way to reclaim the space in the wake of the violence. Jerock Walker, 16, knew one of the victims of the shooting and said the rally showed the community cares about its kids.
"They letting us know we are safe in this community," Walker said. "We don't have to worry about coming out here and getting shot."
Meanwhile, an increased police presence could be seen Tuesday at the Music City Central station on Charlotte Avenue where the four teenagers were wounded after shots rang out about 3:30 p.m. Monday. One, who was critically injured Monday, was in stable condition Tuesday morning.
Two teens are being questioned by police, but have denied involvement in the case, a Metro spokesman said.
In less than a 14-hour period Monday, Nashville saw one of the bloodiest days it had seen in recent months — with eight people wounded in two separate shootings across the city, including the four teens who were shot at the bus station. Before dawn Monday, police believe, four people were shot at a Goodlettsville home during an argument over a rap song.
The incidents prompted Mayor Megan Barry to again decry an increase in gun violence in the city Monday night, and on Tuesday afternoon it brought Metro Transit Authority CEO Steve Bland before reporters for a news conference, during which he referred to the incident as unfortunate but commended police for their quick response to the shooting.
More than 15,000 people pass through the building every day, which is like selling out Bridgestone Arena, Bland said while standing inside the station. The shooting is the most serious event in the building's eight-year history.
"This is one of the safest places in Nashville," he said, adding the state has 44 cameras mounted throughout it.
Bland said that at least eight police officers or security patrols are onsite at any given time. Police and security were within 75 feet of the shooting and responded within 10 seconds, he said.
Metro police on Tuesday released a 911 call made to dispatch on Monday after the bus station shooting.
"We're laying on the ground, ma'am, send the police. Oh my God," a frantic woman tells a dispatcher. "There's been a shooting down here at MTA, a guy just got shot."
Gunfire struck four teenagers, including the intended target — 18-year-old Javious Chatman, said police spokesman Don Aaron.
Chatman, suffered a gunshot wound to the torso and was taken by ambulance to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition Monday. On Tuesday Chatman's condition had been upgraded to stable.
Two 16-year-olds, Nathaniel Webb and Jonathan Stoner, and 17-year-old Jalen Jeffries suffered minor injuries. They also were taken to Vanderbilt's hospital, where they were treated and released.
Two 17-year-old boys who were detained Monday outside the John Sevier State Office Building near a discarded pistol were interviewed at the Central Precinct and released Monday night. Both denied any connection to the firearm, Aaron said.
As of Tuesday, no charges had been filed against them and the shooting remained under investigation.
A motive in the shooting is not yet known, but police say surveillance video shows the suspects riding up and down the escalators as if they were looking for someone. Police are not releasing the footage, but Aaron said the bus station video is helping piece together what happened.
At least a half-dozen officers paced the station Tuesday as passengers boarded and departed buses that rolled through the station next to Municipal Auditorium near Nashville's Central Business District.
Denise Davis, who sat outside the station Tuesday with her cousin after making a morning trip downtown from her home in Madison, called Monday's shooting a brazen display of disrespect. Davis, 46, said she had just left the station on a bus when the shots rang out.
"Thank God we wasn't there," Davis said. "These days and times you don't know about these kids. You just gotta love them and pray for them."
Students from Meigs Middle Magnet School were at the station when the shooting happened. None were injured, but students may have witnessed the shooting, according to a note from Principal Samuel Underwood to parents obtained by The Tennessean.
About 4,500 students pass through the station on a school day, said Joe Bass, Metro Schools spokesman.
Magnet students have been able to ride the buses for free or at a reduced cost for years, Bass said. And all high school students were allowed to ride the bus for free in 2014 under former Mayor Karl Dean's administration.
Metro Nashville Public Schools pays toward extra security at the station in its budget. Bland said that money is used at various times of the year, but especially when students are going back to school to help them navigate the bus station.
In a different incident Monday before the sun rose, cousins Christopher Christian II, 22, and Ryan Bowden, 20, told police they were shot about 2 a.m. after fighting with three men about recording a rap song in a studio they run out a garage at a home in the 500 block of Cunniff Parkway.
The cousins were taken to Vanderbilt Medical Center with minor injuries.
Shortly after responding to Cunniff Parkway, Antonio Doval, 23, and Brandon Richardson, 24, arrived at Skyline Medical Center with gunshot wounds.
During interviews, neither man could tell detectives where the shooting had occurred or who shot them.
While no one is admitting to an exchange of gunfire at the Cunniff Parkway home, Aaron said, evidence at the scene suggests otherwise.
Both shootings remain under investigation.
