A shootout at a Dollar General store hospitalized a Metro Nashville Police officer and killed a 31-year-old woman Friday, and police released body cam footage of the incident later in the day.
The incident happened at Brick Church Pike and Ewing Drive, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department’s Twitter feed.
At a press conference Friday morning, MNPD spokesman Don Aaron identified the officer as Josh Baker, a 14-year-veteran of the city’s East Precinct. Aaron said Baker stopped a black Chevy Camaro.
“The owner of the Camaro has six outstanding drug warrants. Officer Baker approached the vehicle and learned that the owner of the car — the person with the outstanding warrants — was not the person driving. The situation devolved from there into a shootout,” Aaron said.
“It was a 31-year-old woman who was driving the vehicle. She fired shots. Officer Baker returned the fire, and both persons are hit.”
The owner of the Camaro, whom Aaron identified in a Friday evening video as convicted felon Demond Buchanan, 42, never reported the car stolen, Aaron said.
Aaron said Friday morning that Baker was in critical condition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center with a wound to the side of his torso. Later in the day the MNPD’s Twitter feed announced that doctors had upgraded Baker to stable condition.
Aaron identified the woman as Nika Holbert and said Friday morning that she was at Skyline Medical Center in critical condition. MNPD officials tweeted around noon that Holbert had died.
Aaron said Friday morning that at the time of the incident Baker was wearing a body camera.
“Officer Baker is a legacy police officer,” Aaron said.
“His father Danny Baker was the commander of the East Precinct in prior years [and] also a captain with this police department.”
Aaron said Friday evening that Holbert had, at first, complied with Baker’s directions. Baker later found marijuana and what Aaron called “a powder substance” in Holbert’s bag and attempted to detain her as he waited for backup.
Bodycam footage showed Holbert appearing to resist arrest. Aaron said Baker drew a nonlethal taser to safely bring Holbert into custody.
“Officer Baker drew his service pistol when he saw Ms. Holbert had pulled a gun,” Aaron said.
“As he demanded that she put the gun down, Holbert shot Baker. He returned the fire.”
Aaron said earlier Friday that members of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will conduct a full shooting investigation.
Aaron’s Friday evening video showed Baker’s bodycam footage and the shootout in its entirety.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Police Tape” by Tony Webster. CC BY-SA 4.0.
This is what happens when you have Leftists running the city, welcome to east east Memphis. I can’t wait to see and hear what the radical Police Oversight Board is going to say and do about this Rayshard Brooks-esque “murder’ of a “poor, innocent” black woman.
The weather is warming up. Biden is about to be pushed aside by the true Marxist’s. And then, Kamala will immediately unleash the Red Guard. Let the BLM-led riots begin!
History has a way of repeating itself. And we can thank all of the Legislative and Judicial members of our various layers of government for allowing the November 3rd election to have been stolen.