Suspect at Large After Easter Brunch Shooting Leaves One Dead and Several Injured in Nashville
Greg Graziosi, The Independent, April 1, 2024
The man police believe shot and killed one person and injured four others at a Nashville coffee shop is at large, according to law enforcement.
Detectives are still trying to identify the motive of a gunman who shot five people at the Roasted coffee shop on Easter Sunday in Nashville’s Salemtown neighbourhood. The Metro Nashville Police Department has named Anton Rucker, 46, as its primary suspect.
Anton Rucker
Mr Rucker has previous aggravated assault charges and had been arrested in Murfreesboro on felony drug charges last Halloween, police said. Last August he was arrested on aggravated assault and gun charges.
The gunman was caught on surveillance video around 3pm firing inside the shop at another man. One of the wounded, Allen Beachem, 33, died from his wounds.
Police believe that the shooter got into an altercation with another man inside the coffee shop, which ultimately escalated into a shooting. Officers said they have no reason to believe that the suspect knew the victim before the attack.
“There was an altercation between two men at Roasted. Sunday brunch was being served. During that time period, the altercation occurred and escalated, very sharply, to one of the men pulling a gun and firing multiple shots,” Metro police spokesman Don Aaron said during a press conference. “We don’t have any indication that they knew each other at this point. It could be something as simple as one person invading another person’s space.”
The coffee shop was hosting an Easter Sunday brunch on the day of the shooting that featured a DJ and dancing. Witnesses to the shooting told The Tennessean that they saw parents fleeing the coffee shop with their children after the shooting began.
“Everyone was grabbing the children and running or dropping on the ground,” Dia Settle, one of the witnesses, told the paper. “I got waves of chills because I could tell someone was hurt, just from the sound and that many gunshots.”
The gunman then reportedly fled the scene in a Mercedes GLS 450, according to the MNPD.
Mr Aaron said that eight people in total were taken from the scene of the shooting.
