A suspect is in custody for allegedly stabbing a homeless man at the WeGo bus station on Thursday morning in Nashville’s Edgehill community, according to WKRN.
Police were dispatched to the incident around 5:15 a.m. on Thursday about two men fighting at the intersection of 12th Avenue South and Wedgewood Avenue, the outlet reported.
The suspect has since been identified as 31-year-old Jacob A. Boswell, who, according to eyewitnesses at the scene, stabbed the victim at least two times and was heard saying, “This guy needs to die,” referring to the victim, and, “Somebody has to die, I’m gonna kill you!”
The victim of the stabbing is reportedly a 63-year-old homeless man who is being treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for life-threatening injuries.
“[Boswell] attacked the victim multiple times, while the victim was lying on the ground defenseless, with a deadly weapon. The knife was specifically directed at the victim’s head and neck and even after stabbing the victim multiple times in the head he dropped his full body weight onto his knee on top of the victim’s head while the victim was laying defenseless on the ground,” the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) said in an email to WKRN.
“[Boswell’s] attacks on the victim as he was lying defenseless on the ground and the injuries inflicted demonstrate his intent to kill the victim,” MNPD added.
The alleged attacker is currently being held in the Downtown Detention Center on a felony criminal homicide charge, with his bond set at $150,000, WKRN notes.
Thursday’s incident marks at least the fourth violent crime that has taken place at a WeGo site this month.
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell was forced to request a full safety review of WeGo earlier this month after a man was shot six times over what appeared to be drugs on the steps of the bus station located at Rep John Lewis Way & MLK Jr Blvd.
The mayor’s request for a safety review comes as his multi-billion-dollar transit plan, “Choose How You Move: An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety,” would allocate tax dollars to expand WeGo’s services through a half-cent increase of the city’s sales tax.
O’Connell’s plan, as introduced, would add new and extended bus routes and $653 million in “WeGo Essentials,” which includes bus stop upgrades, transit centers, park-and-ride facilities, and garages to hold and maintain WeGo’s fleet of modern buses.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “WeGo Bus” by WeGo Transit.
