NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Metro Nashville police have arrested a 55-year-old man with multiple felony convictions in connection with a shooting that critically injured a 19-year-old outside a South Nashville motel.
According to the Metro Nashville Police Department, John M. Denton was arrested Thursday night in the shooting of Derrick Duffey outside the WoodSpring Suites on Metroplex Drive.
Investigators said Duffey had accompanied a friend to meet Denton about a debt Denton allegedly owed. During the meeting, Denton and Duffey’s friend got into a scuffle. Duffey told police he stepped in to break up the fight.
Police said Denton then went to his pickup truck, retrieved a pistol and fired several shots from less than six feet away. Duffey was hit in the leg and shoulder.
Duffey’s friend drove him to Southern Hills Medical Center, and he was later transferred to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Detectives with the department’s Specialized Investigations Division later located Denton at a relative’s home on Brush Hill Road and arrested him as he drove away from the property.
Denton is being held on a $250,000 bond on charges including attempted criminal homicide, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, felony reckless endangerment and using a gun to commit a dangerous felony.
Police said Denton was already free on bond from a Feb. 20 arrest on felony cocaine and evidence tampering charges and has prior convictions that include aggravated robbery, aggravated assault, aggravated burglary, attempted voluntary manslaughter and theft.
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