More Ban Damage…
Police: Musician dead after bar shooting
Authorities investigate role of self defense
Nashville police on Sunday said they are still investigating a fatal shooting in the early hours of Saturday morning that left a country singer dead inside a downtown Nashville bar.
Continue reading more of this update.
Update at 10:30 p.m. on 11/23:
Metro Nashville police confirmed Jerald Waynes Mills died of his wounds.
Members of the Wayne Mills Band tweeted Saturday night that their frontman Jerald Wayne Mills died from his gunshot wounds Saturday night.
“Word is Wayne has passed. God be with us all in this tragedy……” the band said via their Twitter account at 6:53 p.m.
Police said Mills was shot at the Pit and Barrel bar at 515 Second Ave. South early Saturday morning. Authorities continue to investigate the shooter’s claims of self-defense.
Previously reported:
The leader of a country band was shot early Saturday at a downtown Nashville bar and hospitalized in critical condition, police said.
Police said Jerald Wayne Mills, 44, of Nolensville, was shot just before 5 a.m. at Pit and Barrel bar at 515 Second Ave. S. The bar was closed at the time.
Police said bar owner Chris Ferrell, 44, said he shot Mills in self defense.
A group of Ferrell’s friends were at the bar when Mills began smoking a cigarette in a nonsmoking area, prompting an argument between him and Ferrell, police said. Others left and heard gunshots from outside the bar and called police.
Mills was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in critical condition. No information was available from the hospital late Saturday.
Police initially issued a report to news media identifying the shooting victim as a Nashville songwriter with the same last name, Clayton Mills, but later retracted that, saying two witnesses named the wrong Mills as the victim.
Authorities said Ferrell has a valid handgun permit. He was at the bar Saturday afternoon but declined to speak to a reporter.
Originally written By Tony Gonzalez and Brian Wilson – The Tennessean
