NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Metro Police are investigating the possibility that the man accused of shooting and killing a homeless man in downtown Nashville could have done it before.
Late Thursday afternoon, Metro Police charged 29-year-old Christopher Jerald Crowley with criminal homicide in connection with the death of 41-year-old Robert E. Mitchell.
Police said Mitchell was sitting on a park bench near 3rd Avenue North and James Robertson Parkway when Crowley came up to him and shot him in the head.
A passerby spotted Mitchell lying in the road around 3:30 a.m. Thursday and flagged down an officer coming out of the nearby Criminal Justice Center.
Police identified Crowley after inspecting exterior surveillance cameras and finding the license plate of a car that sped away from the scene shortly after witnesses reported hearing shots fired. Officials discovered the car was registered to Crowley and officers arrested him without incident near his home on Edmonson Circle.
Officials are continuing to investigate the case and said Crowley could have been involved with the 2009 murder of Edward Matthews on a public bench at Church Street and 5th Avenue North. Crowley was also being questioned in connection with another 2009 case where a man was sleeping outside on 5th Avenue North when he said he was kicked and awakened by another man. The victim in that case suffered a gunshot wound to the mouth that he said occurred without provocation.
Crowley was held at the Metro Jail on $250,000 bond.
Anyone with information about Christopher Crowley that they believe would be helpful in the continuing investigation was urged to contact the police department's Homicide/Cold Case Unit at 862-7329.
