NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — There are currently two active TBI investigations into deadly shootings by officers in Nashville.
The first, in the Madison area, involved police killing a man who entered a closed crime scene on Gallatin Pike and started shooting at them. The man has not been identified yet.
The second happened several hours later, along the Davidson-Cheatham County lines, and claimed the life of a 64-year-old man.
Those who knew Drandon John Brown said he often found himself in trouble.
Police said he turned violent Saturday — pulling a knife, which led to the gunfire that killed him.
Brown was known to his friends as "Chief" and lived in the homeless encampment at Brookemeade Park.
He was spotted walking along River Road Pike around 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Dispatch in both Cheatham and Davidson County took 911 calls from concerned drivers who said Brown was throwing rocks at cars, and more.
"There's a man, and I don't know if he has a stick or a gun, but he's waving it out on the road," said one caller.
Six minutes after the last emergency call, two Metro officers came into contact with Brown.
Bodycam and squad car video documented what happened next.
"What are you doing, man?" asked an officer.
Brown responded with mostly nonsensical ramblings, but then he asked one officer to walk with him.
"Walk with you? Yeah, alright," the officer said.
Then, Brown ignored the officers' requests that he stop, and they called for backup.
Seconds later, police say Brown pulled a small knife, turning toward them.
Officers first tried to stop him with a Taser that failed, and then he was shot. Brown died at the scene.
"We're going to miss him. When he's not on one of his rampages, he is really the nicest guy in the world, and it's really sad that it had to come to that," said Debbie Bousquet. She lived in a tent next to Brown — she called him "Chief" — at the homeless encampment in Brookemeade Park.
She said he suffered from severe mental illness but refused help and often was in trouble.
"He's been doing stuff, and people calling the cops on him, but when you don't want mental health care and your brain is not there, it's just — I don't know," Bousquet said.
She wonders if her friend — who once had a family and worked construction in Nashville — had to be shot.
"There's always other options," said Bousquet.
Now, she and others who knew Brown hope to somehow find his beloved service dog.
Daisy, a black lab mix, has been missing since the night Brown was shot.
Metro police do work with Partners in Care to assist officers when there is an acute mental health crisis, but the program has not yet expanded to the west precinct where this happened.
And, police say when you consider that the incident happened in under two minutes, there wouldn't have been time for a clinician to respond.
The TBI is currently conducting "Use of Force" investigations on both shootings over the weekend.
