A woman accused of shooting a homeless man in Nashville was in court for the first time. While her father claimed self-defense, the victim said that's not true.
The victim, 54-year-old Gerald Melton, said the situation didn't need to escalate. For the first time, we heard from the homeless man in court on Thursday.
He said he was trying to sleep the night of the shooting. Melton took the stand and told the court what happened before and after he was shot twice.
According to him, he stood on the sidewalk and told the suspect, Katie Quackenbush, and a passenger in her SUV that the exhaust from the SUV was bothering him.
Melton said Quackenbush turned up the stereo and laughed out the window, and at some point, the two yelled back and forth.
Melton said Quackenbush then asked him if he wanted to die.
At that point, he said he walked away and added Quackenbush got out of her vehicle, followed him, and pointed a gun at him.
“After she fired the first shot, I was doing this, trying to figure out if she had actually shot me or not, you know, if she had hit me, cause I thought this is, you know, I felt something here,” Melton said in court. “Then I saw blood, and I realized she shot me. And then that's when she fired another shot that hit me on the side here, and I saw it came out because it blew my shirt out.”
So again, this was the first time Melton told his side of the story. We also heard from the passenger in the car. She said she never felt threatened by Melton in the first place.
Quackenbush has been facing an attempted first degree murder charge.
The judge decided the case will go before a grand jury.
Read More:
Woman Charged With Attempted Murder Of Homeless Man
Father Of Att. Homicide Suspect Claims Shooting Was In Self Defense
Security Guard Talks To Homeless Shooting Victim
