The man wanted by police for a shooting in a Nashville restaurant on Easter Sunday was out of jail on a combined $50,000 bond and has an extensive criminal past, according to court records.
Anton Rucker, 46, is suspected of injuring five and killing one person—Allen Beachem, 33—in a shooting at Roasted, a restaurant in the Salemtown neighborhood of Nashville. Rucker is now one of Tennessee’s most wanted, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in a post to X.
#TNMostWanted: We need your help to find Anton Lamike Rucker, who is wanted by @MNPDNashville and TBI for Criminal Homicide.
He's 6', 208 lbs., with black hair and brown eyes, and should be considered armed and dangerous.
Spot him? (615) 862-8600/1-800-TBI-FIND! $2,500 reward! pic.twitter.com/sB5VRnDMa3
— Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (@TBInvestigation) April 1, 2024
Metro Nashville Police and the TBI want Rucker for criminal homicide, TBI stated in the post.
“He is 6′, 208 lbs., with black hair and brown eyes, and should be considered armed and dangerous,” the TBI stated. The bureau has asked for anyone who has spotted him to call (615) 862-8600 and are giving a $2,500 reward.
Rucker was arrested in Rutherford County last fall on an aggravated assault charge and felony drug charges, according to court records. These ongoing cases have court hearings scheduled on Wednesday, April 3.
Rucker is out of jail on a combined $50,000 bond, court records indicate.
The attorneys responsible for Rucker’s case have not been available to answer why Rucker was granted bond on these charges despite his record, WSMV4 reported. The attorneys were also asked whether they will petition for Rucker’s bond to be revoked in the wake of the Nashville shooting.
Rucker has a criminal history in Davidson County going back to 1995, according to court records. He has been convicted of a number of felonies, including illegal drug possession, two counts of evidence-tampering, evading arrest, and five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Rucker has also been convicted of some misdemeanor charges.
Authorities charged Rucker with attempted first degree murder in 2000, but he plead guilty to lesser charges and served a six-year sentence concurrent with another case, WSMV4 reported.
In 2008, Rucker opened fire after an argument and sent a woman to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in critical condition, WSMV4 reported. He was then reportedly sentenced to serve eight years but was released on parole in 2012.
Two years later, Rucker was charged with assaulting a police officer, convicted of a lesser assault charge, and paroled again in 2018, WSMV4 reported.
Detectives are working to uncover a motive for the Easter Sunday shooting, and police have recovered the car the gunman fled the scene with, MNPD stated in a post to X.
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell responded to the Easter Sunday shooting by highlighting “gun violence” in a post to X.
We must continue doing everything in our power at the local level to limit the likelihood and impact of gun violence.
We are continuing to increase police capacity, invest in community safety, and working to ensure dispossession of those who should not legally possess firearms.
— Freddie O’Connell (@freddieoconnell) March 31, 2024
“We must continue doing everything in our power at the local level to limit the likelihood and impact of gun violence,” O’Connell said. He said that he and others would work to “ensure dispossession of those who should not legally possess firearms.”
A convicted felon, Rucker was already prohibited from possessing the gun used in the shooting.
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Matthew Giffin is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Matthew on X/Twitter.
