Stacey Barchenger

sbarchenger@tennessean.com

Former Metro Councilman Loniel Greene confronted two men at a West Nashville gas station parking lot, yelling at them and chasing them before one man opened fire, according to police records.

The Metro Nashville Police Department investigative records and interview recordings released Thursday reveal new details about the Nov. 4 encounter near a gas station on White Bridge Pike that left Greene with three gunshot wounds. The records were released after the shooter, Brandon Hunt-Clark, was sentenced Wednesday to probation.

Greene told paramedics on the way to Vanderbilt University Medical Center that night that "he approached two suspects in the parking lot to preach to them," the records read. But the next day he told police he thought one of the two men was his brother and was yelling for him, but the man would not respond.

Greene, reached by phone Thursday, declined to comment.

"I don’t have a comment on this now, and I won’t in the future," he said. "You all can stop calling me, and please quote me on that."

Included in the documents is a summary of the statement Justin Lawton, who was with Hunt-Clark at the Marathon gas station when the shooting occurred, gave to police. Police said Lawton was a witness and is not facing charges.

Lawton told police he and Hunt-Clark were walking to a friend's house when Greene pulled up to them.

"Greene rolled the window down and said 'what you n---- looking at, say something, say something,' " the police report reads. Hunt-Clark and Lawton didn't respond and kept walking to nearby Burgess then Oceola avenues.

"Lawton heard Greene yell 'bring your f------ a-- here.' Greene took off his shirt and started following them," the police records read. Lawton said he was running away, scared, when Hunt-Clark shot the former councilman. Lawton said he didn't know if Hunt-Clark was buying or selling drugs earlier in the night. The reports say Hunt-Clark got into the back seat of another vehicle in the gas station parking lot with a backpack, what detectives later said they believed was a drug deal.

Lawton told police "Greene appeared to be intoxicated or on drugs." Nashville criminal court records show Lawton, 26, has pending drug charges from unrelated incidents.

The records say that others who knew Hunt-Clark reported to police that "Hunt-Clark has been telling his friends the incident was a drug related robbery." Greene has denied using drugs or alcohol the night of the shooting.

Greene partially corroborated Lawton's story when interviewed by police Nov. 9, five days later.

He said he was upset with his brother, whom he thought he saw at the gas station, who had told Greene weeks earlier he was joining the military. Greene told police he'd housed his brother and was upset because he thought his brother lied about leaving.

"Greene stated he took his shirt off because he was upset and about to confront his brother," the records read. Greene said the two men didn't respond to him and said he believed the shooter was scared and that's why he fired shots.

Greene, wounded, walked back to his car at the gas pumps. A woman who found him called police and "said you were saying, 'Don't save me, I'm not worth it, I've done bad things.' Do you remember that?" the detective asked Greene. Greene said he'd been shot and he didn't remember anything other than asking God to preserve his life.

Police found Greene's red shirt, two $1 bills and his shoes in the gas station parking lot. He had more than $500 cash in his pocket, which he told police was a tenant's rent payment, the police reports say.

Seven .22-caliber shell casings were found on the nearby street, Oceola Avenue. The gun was not found, but a friend of Hunt-Clark's said he took Hunt-Clark back to the scene to retrieve the gun the next day, the records say.

Hunt-Clark was later arrested in Mississippi on a robbery charge, but a grand jury there did not charge him in that case and police brought him back to Nashville.

Greene, 35, resigned in January, two months after the shooting after fewer than five months as a member of Nashville's Metro Council.

Greene in January faced scrutiny for his actions in a cousin's domestic violence case, admitting he lied in court about the source of money he used to bond his cousin out of jail. Prosecutors said it was his voice on jail recordings saying he would try and keep the victim from going to court. Greene has pleaded not guilty to a count of coercion of a witness in that case.

Nick Leonardo on Aug. 4 was elected to replace Greene as the council's District 1 representative. The district includes parts of Whites Creek, Bordeaux and Joelton.

Reach Stacey Barchenger at 615-726-8968 and on Twitter @sbarchenger.