The deadly shooting in a popular Nashville mall prompted an outsized response — and one crime reporter visiting from Ohio says the police response was “incredibly quick.”
Dave O’Brien, a reporter at the Record-Courier in Kent, Ohio, says he was in Nashville to check out CrimeCon — a convention of true crime enthusiasts. He happened to be at the Opry Mills mall watching a movie when the shooting erupted. Police say an altercation between two men left one of them dead and the suspect was immediately taken into custody.
The shooting couldn’t be heard over battle scenes in “Avengers: Infinity War.” But the film showing was disrupted when officers in riot gear came into the theater and told everyone to leave.
O’Brien says he grabbed his media credentials from his car, snapped photos and tweeted them. The mall was evacuated as police responded in force. Even the nearby Grand Ole Opry House and convention center were put on lockdown for a time Thursday.