Nashville standoff ends, three detained in crime spree

Metro police detained three people Friday in connection to an early morning violent crime spree that included a triple shooting outside a North Nashville night club and later led to a standoff outside a Bordeaux home.

The melee began about 2:55 a.m. when officers responded to Vanderbilt University Medical Center after three men ages 34, 38 and 19, showed up to the hospital and told employees they had been shot. The victims, who are all expected to live, told police they were leaving Jazzy Sensations nightclub at 1520 Hampton Street when they noticed a white Dodge sedan parked close to them.

As the trio got into their vehicle, police spokesman Don Aaron said, they were approached by a masked gunman armed with two pistols who opened fire in their direction. Police believe the gunman and at least one accomplice then traveled to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center parking garage, where at about 4 a.m., they robbed a 31-year-old man of his wallet, truck keys and truck at gunpoint.

As the suspects drove out of the garage in the victim's white pickup truck, witnesses watched as someone driving a white Dodge Magnum left the scene with it.

Several minutes later, a 31-year-old woman and a 35-year-old man were sitting in a Mustang at 21st Avenue South and Medical Center Drive when the white pickup pulled up next to them. A gunman, Aaron said, got out, demanded money then took a CD case from the Mustang, got back in the truck and fled.

About 4:14 a.m., officers responded to a robbery call at MidSouth Produce at 1215 Baptist World Center Drive. During that robbery a gunman demanded money from one employee and directed the employee to take him to the safe.

When another employee realized the store was being robbed, he grabbed his own gun and confronted the gunman in a hallway, Aaron said.

When the suspect saw that the employee was armed, he ran from the business and retreated to a white pickup truck. The employee fired one shot at the robber, but Aaron said police do not believe he hit his target.

Then at 4:22 a.m., officers responded to a robbery call at an apartment complex at 2715 Whites Creek Pike. A gunman got out of a white GMC pickup truck and robbed a man who was working on a vehicle in the parking lot.

At 4:32 a.m., officers responded to a robbery call in the parking lot next to the Pizza Hut at 3709 Clarksville Pike. There, a gunman in a white pickup truck confronted several people and demanded their belongings.

One of the victims used their own vehicle in an attempt to block the suspect’s truck, but the suspect rammed the victim’s vehicle, which left an opportunity for another person at the scene to reach into the GMC and grab the gun from the robber’s lap. That resident then fired shots at the robbery suspect. Shots were also fired at the suspect by another armed resident, Aaron said.

Five minutes later, at 4:38 a.m., officers responded to a call of a truck fire on LaGrange Avenue. Police say the white GMC pickup truck taken from the Vanderbilt garage had been set on fire. Then at 8:51 a.m., officers responded to 3200 block of Hinkle Drive in the city's Bordeaux neighborhood to investigate a white Dodge Magnum possibly involved in this crime spree. At the scene, two men and a woman were detained for questioning in connection to the crime spree.

Shortly after officers detained the men and woman, police pointed high-powered rifles at the open front door of a home on that street. Using a megaphone, officers repeatedly ordered anyone inside the home to exit.

Dozens of neighbors and onlookers stood outside near the crime scene tape Friday watching police attempt to draw the occupants of the single-story home outside.

About 1:20 p.m., a SWAT team stormed the house and cleared it. After officers failed to find anyone inside, they served a search warrant at the home. It was not immediately known if anything was recovered inside the home.

The Friday standoff took place on the same street where a man was shot in the back Wednesday night. That shooting suspect remained at large as of Friday.

Reach breaking news reporter Natalie Alund at nalund@tennessean.com and on Twitter at @NatalieAlund.