Body camera footage released after Nashville police fatally shoot man; investigation underway
A Nashville police officer fatally shot a man early Thursday morning in a wooded area off Old Hickory Boulevard in Madison, officials reported.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation later identified the man as 39-year-old Anthony Marcell Phillips.
Metro Nashville Police Department spokesperson Don Aaron said a person reported an abandoned Chevrolet Impala in the 900 block of Old Hickory Boulevard with its doors open around 2:30 a.m. and then heard gunfire in a wooded area nearby.
When police arrived, they believed the gunfire was being directed toward them and for around 40 minutes commanded the person shooting to stop and emerge. After several shots were heard, Phillips emerged from the woods and appeared to ingest some kind of substance, according to Aaron. Officers also heard Phillips shouting expletives.
Aaron said Phillips was lying prone and then fired two shots. Officer Ricardo Cruz returned fire with a shotgun, fatally wounding the Phillips. A semi-automatic 9 mm pistol was recovered from the scene, Aaron said.
Aaron said officers do not believe anyone was with Phillips and they do not know if anyone saw him abandoning the car.
Cruz has worked for MNPD for two years.
Phillips had a warrant out for his arrest for tampering with an electronic monitoring device, Aaron said. Records show Phillips was convicted of rape of a child and aggravated sexual battery of a victim under 13 in 2003.
No officers were hurt in the shooting, Aaron said.
TBI reported it was on the scene and will conduct an investigation at the request of District Attorney Glenn Funk. Body camera footage from several officers will be reviewed, Aaron said.
This marks the 10th Nashville police shooting in 2021.
Seven people have died after Nashville police shootings this year. However, a medical examiner ruled it's unclear whether 23-year-old Jacob Alexander Griffin died as a result of suicide or being shot by a SWAT officer on May 1.
"Each police shooting stands on its own, as far as the facts are concerned," Aaron said. "As you have seen, through our release of body camera footage, our officers have been confronted in very dangerous situations multiple times in 2021 by individuals with weapons."
The Metro Nashville Community Oversight Board, which investigates police misconduct and complaints against MNPD, said its executive director was notified of the shooting early Thursday morning and given preliminary details. The director was able to ask questions about the shooting.
"The MNCO investigators are training out of state and were unable to be at the scene," the board said in a tweet.
Nashville police release body camera footage from fatal shooting
Warning: This video may be upsetting to some viewers.
MNPD released a 14-and-a-half minute video that included more details on the shooting, excerpts of three 911 calls, portions of body and dash camera footage from the officers on the scene and commentary by spokesperson Brooke Reese.
The video shows officers approaching the abandoned car and ducking as gunshots ring out in the woods. Reese said officers repeatedly commanded the person shooting to come out with his hands up for around 30 minutes.
Phillips can then be seen at the edge of a wooded area as officers shine spotlights on him and continue to give him commands to surrender.
In the span of a few seconds, two shots can be heard coming from the where the man is on all fours in the woods, then Phillips appears to flip over. The blast of a shotgun followed quickly after.
Both a body-worn camera by another officer and a dash cam showed Phillips flip over shortly before the shotgun round was fired by Cruz.
Phillips died at the scene, Reese said in the video. Reese also said Phillips was under investigation in connection with a shooting on Trousdale Drive on Wednesday, during which a relative's vehicle was damaged by gunfire.
Phillips' autopsy was still pending as of Dec. 29.
Find reporter Rachel Wegner at rawegner@tennessean.com or on Twitter @rachelannwegner.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Body camera footage released after Nashville police fatally shoot man
