Katie Quackenbush: Homeless Man Asks Woman To Move Her Porsche SUV, She Shoots Him Twice And Drives Away, Police Say
Katie Quackenbush, a 26-year-old owner of a Porsche SUV, faces a charge of attempted murder today after she shot a homeless man on a busy Nashville, Tennessee, street and then drove off and went to a nearby restaurant, according to a report by the Tennessean newspaper on Monday.
The shooting happened at about 3 a.m. on August 26 near Nashville’s famous Music Row and was the result of an argument between the homeless man, 54-year-old Gerald Melton, and Quackenbush after Melton asked her to move the Porsche because he was attempting to sleep on the sidewalk and was bothered by exhaust and loud music emanating from the vehicle, according to a police account of the incident.
But while Quackenbush herself, a single mom of a 5-year-old boy, has not made any public statements about why she shot Melton and then apparently left him to die without seeking medical assistance for her wounded victim, the woman’s father, a lawyer in Texas, has gone public with a differing version of what happened that night in the Music City.
“She’s never done anything like this in her life,” Quackenbush’s dad told The Tennessean. But in fact, his daughter has been arrested two times previously on violence-related charges, most recently in December of last year when she was accused of hitting another woman with a glass, The Tennessean reported. Both previous charges were misdemeanors.
Melton survived the shooting, but was seriously wounded and remained in Vanderbilt University Medical Center as of Monday, more than two weeks after taking the two bullets from Quackenbush.
BREAKING: Katie Quackenbush, 26, charged tonight with attempted murder for shooting a homeless man near Music Row at 3 a.m. on August 26. pic.twitter.com/XP7BkAtuLn
— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) September 12, 2017
While the exact model and year of Quackenbush’s vehicle has not het been made public, a typical Porsche SUV carries a sticker price starting at around $60,000.
According to Quackenbush’s father, attorney Jesse Quackenbush, his daughter is innocent of the attempted murder because “she didn’t try and kill this guy,” instead simply closing her eyes and firing two “warning” shots at Melton. But the warning shots apparently hit Melton instead.
The police account says that Melton merely asked Quackenbush to move the vehicle so that he could sleep, and that she began arguing with him, then as the argument became heated, went to her car, picked up a gun from inside, and shot him — then simply departed the scene. But Quackenbush’s father places the blame on Melton for, the dad alleges, starting the altercation with his own obnoxious and offensive behavior.
The elder Quackenbush released the following statement, according to a report by Nashville TV station WTVF.
“The two women were actually acting in self defense. The man was always on his feet and not asleep as someone apparently has alleged and had accosted a group of very young women and nearly became physical with one. He then approached the white Porsche with two female occupants and started verbally accosting them threatening them because their music was too loud for him to sleep,” the Texas attorney said.
“The driver fired a round as a warning to scare him away as he came at her. He kept coming and she fired a second round, again intended to scare him away. They quickly got back into the white vehicle and left, not knowing that the man was hit by the warning shots. Both girls contacted the police and DA shortly after the incident and have always agreed to cooperate fully with the investigation,” his statement continued.
Jesse Quackenbush also claimed that Melton threatened to kill his daughter and her friend, who was accompanying her, and regaled them with profane and sexist remarks.
Katie Quackenbush turned herself in and was held on $25,000 bond.
[Featured Image by Metro Nashville Police Department/Twitter]
