An 18-year-old has been charged in the fatal shooting Monday of another 18-year-old on a Nashville Metro Transit Authority (MTA) bus in Madison.
Antonio S. Jones is charged with criminal homicide in the fatal shooting of his acquaintance, Tyvonceea Hayden.
The shooting happened at noon as the bus was traveling on Gallatin Pike, according to a Metro Nashville Police Department news release. Jones and Hayden, who apparently had been dating someone in Jones’ family, had both boarded the bus a short time earlier outside the Madison Library.
The two young men exchanged only a few words before the shooting, witnesses said. After the bus pulled over at MTA’s Gallatin Pike/Due West Avenue stop, Jones and his girlfriend, who was carrying an infant, fled the bus in opposite directions. The girlfriend was detained by officers on Due West Avenue. A relative drove Jones to the police department’s East Precinct, where he surrendered. He was taken to the Madison Precinct, where he declined to be interviewed.
According to WKRN News 2, this has been “the deadliest year for teens, surpassing even 2015 when Metro police said Nashville had a youth violence problem. Twenty-three teens aged 19 and under have been murdered this year, while 14 teens aged 19 and under have been arrested for murder.”
Growing crime rates are a concern for many as Nashville continues to grow, including crime in connection with mass transit.
Earlier this month, eight teens and young adults were arrested at the downtown Music City Central bus station following a physical altercation. Some resisted arrest.
Last year, four teens were injured in a shooting at the Music City Central bus station. In January, a man was shot in the chest and critically injured at the station.
Nashville Mayor Megan Barry has proposed a $5.4 billion mass transit plan that would involve creating a light rail network, expanding and improving bus service, and building an underground tunnel downtown.
