Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Nashville Man Facing Federal Firearms Charges After Six-Hour Standoff with Police
Metro Police Officer Hit by Gunfire from Suspect
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – February 8, 2018 – Justin Jerome Jones, 29, of Nashville, Tennessee, was charged in a federal criminal complaint this afternoon with three counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Don Cochran of the Middle District of Tennessee.
The complaint was filed in response to yesterday’s incident where Jones is alleged to have fired several rounds from a pistol, after which he barricaded himself inside an apartment in the Tony Sudekum public housing development and continued firing at responding Metro Nashville police officers.
According to the charging document, Jones had become upset with his 11-year old daughter and took her outside the apartment and begin firing rounds into the ground. MNPD officers arrived and observed Jones inside an apartment. Jones slammed the door and subsequently fired at responding officers on several occasions, including SWAT officers. One round struck an MNPD officer. After several hours, Jones exited the apartment and was taken into custody.
A search warrant was obtained shortly thereafter and officers recovered from inside the apartment, several spent shell casings, a cocked .357 caliber revolver; a .38 caliber revolver; and parts from a 9mm pistol. Additional firearms parts and boxes of ammunition were recovered from the apartment today.
The complaint also alleges that Jones had been convicted of aggravated robbery in Davidson County, Tenn., in 2007 and also convicted of aggravated robbery in Hamilton County Ohio in 2009, relating to armed bank robbery. Jones was released from custody in Ohio in December 2016 and paroled to the State of Mississippi.
If convicted, Jones faces up to 10 years in prison on each count.
U.S. Attorney Cochran praised the efforts of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department and the ATF in the resolution of this incident and the subsequent investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sunny A.M. Koshy is prosecuting the case.
A criminal complaint is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
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