Detroit woman arrested in Georgia in connection to weekend Nashville motel slaying

Nashville police on Wednesday announced a 20-year-old woman was arrested in Georgia in connection with the slaying of a man at a Nashville motel over the weekend.

The Metro Nashville Police Department issued a criminal homicide warrant Wednesday morning for Jakira Coleman-Griffen of Detroit in connection to the shooting death of 60-year-old Gary O. McClain.

McClain's death marked Nashville's first criminal homicide of 2022.

Authorities said Coleman-Griffen was captured in Cobb County, Georgia, after authorities spotted McClain’s 2017 Hyundai Accent, which had been entered into a national database as stolen, and initiated a pursuit. Coleman-Griffen possessed a nine millimeter semi-automatic pistol at the time of her arrest.

During an interview with MNPD Homicide overnight, police said, she admitted to shooting McClain in the head. Robbery, police reported, is believed to be the motive in the killing.

Related: Man found fatally shot in Dickerson Pike motel, Nashville police say

McClain was found by motel staff at 10 a.m. Sunday inside a room at the Savoy Motel on Dickerson Pike.

According to police, McClain was seen arriving to the motel with an unidentified woman who police on Wednesday identified as Coleman-Griffen. Detectives believe that after the killing, she took the car — a 2017 silver Hyundai Accent — McClain had been driving.

This is a developing story.

Natalie Neysa Alund is based in Nashville at The Tennessean and covers breaking news across the South for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at nalund@tennessean.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Woman arrested in Georgia in connection to homicide at Nashville motel