A 68-year-old woman was found stabbed to death inside her East Nashville name Thursday night. Her grandson has been charged with her murder.

Gwendolyn Lavender was a crossing guard at Kipp Kirkpatrick Elementary School.

Metro Police were called to Gwendolyn Lavender’s home on South 10th Street just after 10 p.m. Arriving officers found her on the living room floor, dead from multiple stab wounds.

Detectives say her grandson also lived at the home and said his grandmother was attacked and he had been hit on the head by an unknown assailant. According to investigators, his statements did not match up with the physical evidence at the homicide scene.

24-year-old Xavier Lavendar then confessed, according to police.

“Evidently there was an ongoing dispute between the two and he indicated he just snapped,” said Don Aaron, Metro Police spokesman. “She was a great employee, a very kind soul who worked every day to keep the kids of Kirkpatrick Elementary safe. It’s a loss to the police department and East Nashville community.”

Xavier Lavender has been charged with criminal homicide.

“It’s a pretty disturbing thing to wake up and see that happen in your community,” said Waymond West, who works with the after-school program at Kirkpatrick Elementary. “Every day she comes out here and she’s on the front line with our kids.”

According to a police affidavit, Lavender revealed that his grandmother “attempted to call police but he continuously stabbed her to drop the phone.”

“She was really great with the kids. Kids loved her, she always had a smile and that’s really big for our kids to see that smile every single day,” said Joseph Jenkins, a teacher at Kirkpatrick.

This is the third homicide in Davidson County in 2019 and the second so far in East Nashville. Broderick Porter-Baugh, 32, was shot and killed outside his East Nashville home on Jan. 12.

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