NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Saturday afternoon, a large police presence was in East Nashville near N. 7th Street, where police say an individual was holed up in one of the houses after stealing a car and shooting at police in the early hours of the morning.
Between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. Saturday morning, officers responded to a stolen vehicle call — they found the suspect, 31-year-old Michael Ridley, who then fired shots at officers and fled the scene. No officers were injured in the exchange, according to police.
They lost contact with Ridley until an anonymous caller from inside a house on North 7th Street said the suspect was inside a house on the street — this around 5:50 a.m.
Police say Ridley threatened two people inside one of the houses before they ran away. At 6:40 a.m. there was a shot from inside the house where Ridley remained. Officers remained on scene for majority of the afternoon until around 4:00 p.m., when they made contact with Ridley in the home and found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Officers made entry to the home on N. 7th St. a short time ago and discovered a man deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Medical Examiner’s Office is working to confirm his ID.
— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) September 21, 2024
For people of my generation, in our younger days we spent part of our weekends watching music shows like American Bandstand and Soul Train. That was before the age of music videos. Several years before Soul Train was syndicated out of Chicago, another syndicated R&B show was taped in Nashville at NewsChannel 5. Night Train aired in the 60s and included what may have been the first TV appearance for legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Forrest Sanders has another great look back at station history.
-Lelan Statom