Nashville police officer shot in leg, second person also wounded at apartment complex

A Nashville officer was shot in the leg and a homicide suspect was shot in the hip and foot Monday at an affordable housing apartment complex in Madison, authorities said.

Officers were called to 808 Skyline Ridge Drive around 12:54 p.m. on a report of personnel in danger.

MNPD spokesperson Don Aaron said Monday afternoon during a news conference that officers with The Investigative Team Addressing Neighborhood Shootings (TITANS) were trying to arrest a man wanted in connection to a March 4 homicide when gunfire rang out.

Aaron said the two people injured were undercover TITANS officer Carlos Diaz and Miqueal Williams, 31, who had a warrant for his arrest in connection to the March 4 fatal shooting of Samuel L. Edwards Jr. at an apartment complex on Buena Vista Pike.

Diaz has been a member of MNPD since November 2022 after transferring from the New York City Police Department.

Aaron said during the press conference that Diaz and Williams are being treated for non-life threatening injuries at Skyline Medical Center.

Aaron said TITANS agents received information Williams was at the apartment complex on Skyline Ridge Drive when he and a woman were seen entering a vehicle. Williams did not live at the complex, Nashville Police Chief John Drake said Monday.

When police approached, the woman got out of the driver's seat.

"When officers approached him, he opened fire," Drake said about Williams.

After he was hit in the leg, Diaz moved to safety, police said. During the gunfire, Det. Joseph Gonzales approached the open driver's side door of the vehicle and fired at Williams through it.

Diaz and Gonzales are both on routine administrative assignment pending an investigation, police said.

Drake said when he took over as chief in August 2020, he wanted to put together a team to address shootings.

"Shootings (are) an epidemic that's happening not only here but around the country and we wanted to be able to focus on the most violent individuals to be able to take them into custody," Drake said while addressing media. "The TITANS team has been very effective."

Dozens of marked and unmarked police vehicles were at the scene investigating the shooting.

Typically in police shootings, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is called in to handle the inquiry, but Aaron said the department's Cold Case Homicide Unit will handle this one after conferring with District Attorney Glenn Funk.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville police officer shot in leg, second person also wounded at apartment complex