‘Put the guns down, pick up a book’: Pastor speaks out after deadly shooting near TSU

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WRKN) — Nashville authorities said they’re pursuing strong leads to identify the people responsible for Saturday’s shooting near Tennessee State University (TSU) that killed one person and injured nine others.

According to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD), there was an exchange of gunfire between two groups at approximately 5:10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12 near the intersection of Jefferson Street and 27th Avenue North.

Authorities said the shell casings found on Jefferson Street indicate the suspects were shooting at each other from opposite sides of the street as the crowd was starting to thin out since the TSU homecoming football game started at 5 p.m. over at Nissan Stadium.

Pastor Michael Joyner from Greater Faith Missionary Baptist Church said not only was he a block away from the shooting when it happened, but he knows several people who were there.

“This affects all of us, and we just got to pray that our young people will put their guns down; put the guns down, pick up a book,” Joyner said. “We’ve got to change the mentality of the way things are going.”

MNPD officials clarified the shooting is not a reflection of TSU itself, but a disturbance to what should have been an enjoyable celebration amid TSU’s homecoming weekend.

“This type of gun violence has just got to stop,” said MNPD Public Affairs Director Don Aaron. “We would have never expected that this would have happened here with all of the law enforcement, all of the public safety people here, the fire department.”

Police said 10 shooting victims were brought to four different hospitals around Nashville. One of those victims — identified by authorities as 24-year-old Vonquae Johnson — died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Most of the other victims have been described as adults, but one 12-year-old girl and two 14-year-old girls did sustain non-critical injuries.

According to officials, two of the people who were injured are suspected of being involved in the shooting, but they both refused to be interviewed by detectives at the hospital.

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Late Saturday night, TSU shared descriptions of “suspects still at large” provided by law enforcement:

Suspect 1: Male, Black, wearing a green top and pants.

Suspect 2: Male, Black, wearing a black and white top with jeans; possibly in a Ford Fusion.

No additional details have been released about the suspects in Saturday’s deadly shooting.

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