Katie Quackenbush, 26, is charged with attempted murder after police say she shot a homeless man in Nashville after he asked her to move her Porsche SUV.
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Katie Layne Quackenbush is charged with attempted murder after police in Nashville say she shot a homeless man.
A 26-year-old aspiring country singer has been charged with attempted murder after police say she shot a homeless man twice near Nashville’s Music Row in August after he asked her to move her Porsche SUV because loud music and exhaust coming from it were disturbing his sleep.
Katie Layne Quackenbush was arrested September 11, Metro Nashville Police said in a press release. The victim, 54-year-old Gerald Melton, was shot twice in the abdomen and remains hospitalized in critical condition, according to police. Quackenbush’s father, Jesse Quackenbush, told The Tennessean his daughter was acting in self defense.
Jesse Quackenbush told the newspaper his daughter fired the shots as a warning after he came toward her following an argument.
“She did say she closed her eyes when she shot both times, but they were warnings, and she thought she pointed away from him, ” he told newspaper. “She didn’ t try and kill this guy. She had no intention of killing him. She didn’ t know that she hit him.”
Here’s what you need to know:
Katie Quackenbush.
The shooting occurred on August 26 at 901 19th Avenue South, near Nashville’s Music Row, police said in a press release.
“The investigation, which is being led by Detective Anthony Chandler, shows that (Gerald) Melton was trying to sleep on the sidewalk at 3 a.m. when he became disturbed by exhaust fumes and loud music coming from a Porsche SUV, ” police said. “Melton said he asked the driver of the Porsche, alleged to have been Quackenbush, to move the vehicle. An argument ensued, with both parties yelling at each other.”
Melton told police he went back to where he was sleeping.
“Quackenbush is alleged to have gotten out of the Porsche armed and, as the argument continued, fired two shots at Melton, ” police said. Melton was critically wounded and said the shooter then fled from the scene in the Porsche.
According to court records, which you can see below, a female passenger was in the SUV with Quackenbush at the time of the shooting. She has not been identified and is not being charged at this time.
The affidavit states that the passenger identified Quackenbush as the person who shot Melton. Authorities said in the probable cause statement that both Quackenbush and Melton were yelling at each other during the verbal argument. Investigators say Melton “did not impede” Quackenbush’s ability to leave the area.
Melton remains hospitalized at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
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JUST IN: Father of woman charged w/ attempted murder of homeless man tells me she was trying to fire ‘warning shots’ https: //t.co/cJjHu5wJ4X pic.twitter.com/7pFPCqSEOi
— Natalie Allison (@natalie_allison) September 12,2017
Katie Quackenbush’s father, Jesse, says that his daughter, who is the single mother of a 5-year-old son, had no intention of shooting Melton.
“She has a son, ” Jesse Quackenbush, an attorney in Texas, told The Tennessean . “She’s never done anything like this in her life. She had an eyewitness in the front seat.”
Jesse Quackenbush said Melton approached the Porchse and threatened to kill his daughter and the other woman who was in the SUV, while also making explicit and sexist remarks toward Katie Quackenbush, the newspaper reports.
“He comes up to their window and starts screaming in their window various threats, and something about turning their music down and that he couldn’ t sleep, ” he told the newspaper.
Jesse Quackenbush told the newspaper the man walked away and his daughter got out of her car to escort her friend to a vehicle parked close by. She grabbed her gun and put a magazine inside, he said. Jesse Quackenbush says his daughter saw Melton walking toward her again and told him she had a gun. She then fired two “warning shots” and left, her father said. There was no indication Melton had been shot, the suspect’s father said. Melton did not scream when hit, according to Jesse Quackenbush.
The elder Quackenbush told The Tennessean his daughter and her friend decided to leave and go to a restaurant, and come back later for the other woman’s car. When they returned, they found the car and the area surrounded by police tape. He told the newspaper that his daughter got an attorney and cooperated with the investigation, including turning herself in for questioning.
He also issued a statement about his daughter’s arrest, disputing the police version of events. He said in the statement that the man had “accosted” another group of women, before approaching the car his daughter and another woman were in. Jesse Quackenbush said in the statement that his daughter fired the first “warning shot” to “scare him away” as he came at her, and then fired the second shot “to scare him away, ” before “quickly” leaving the scene, not knowing she had hit Melton. He said that Melton was not sleeping or on the ground when his daughter fired the shots, and was “always on his feet” during the incident.
You can read his full statement below:
The two women were actually acting in self defense. The man was always on his feet and not asleep as someone apparently has alleged and had accosted a group of very young women and nearly became physical with one. He then approached the white Porsche (not Lexis) with two female occupants and started verbally accosting them threatening them because their music was too loud for him to sleep… The driver fired a round as a warning to scare him away as he came at her. He kept coming and she fired a second round, again intended to scare him away. They quickly got back into the white vehicle and left, not knowing that the man was hit by the warning shots. Both girls contacted the police and DA shortly after the incident and have always agreed to cooperate fully with the investigation.
Katie Quackenbush in her 2013 mugshot from an assault arrest in Amarillo, Texas.
Katie Quackenbush is originally from Amarillo, Texas. She has no prior criminal convictions on her record, but was arrested in 2013 on an assault charge in Amarillo, according to online arrest records.
She was arrested October 3,2013, by the Amarillo Police Department on a misdemeanor domestic violence-related assault charge. She was released from the Randall County Jail a day later after posting $5,000 bond. Court records on the Randall County website show the case was dismissed by the district attorney in April 2014. She was ordered to pay a $400 attorney fee.
Quackenbush was also arrested in Potter County, Texas, on December 17,2016, and charged with misdemeanor assault. That case is still pending. Details of the incident that led to her arrest were not immediately available.
Jesse Quackenbush, Katie’s father, who has been speaking on her behalf, is a prominent criminal defense lawyer in Amarillo.
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Katie Quackenbush.
Katie Quackenbush is a musician, performing country songs under the name Katie Layne. Her Twitter profile, which includes explicit and nude photos of her in an effort to promote her “Outlaw” country music style, has not been active since 2016.
