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A Manhunt is underway for John Drake Jr, the estranged son of Nashville’s police chief accused in the Saturday shooting of two suburban police officers. Tennessee police, searching for the suspect, John Drake Jr, the 38-year-old wanted on two counts of attempted first-degree murder, issued a statewide blue alert on Saturday, October 21, in the hope of finding the suspect who is considered “armed and very dangerous.”
Blue Alert is activated when authorities are searching for a suspect accused of violently attacking a law enforcement officer.
Detailing the incident, in a press conference, LaVergne Police Chief Christopher Moews said that on Saturday night, Officers were investigating reports of a possible stolen vehicle in La Vergne, a suburb of Nashville, when they encountered a subject identified as John Drake Jr, outside a Dollar store. Following a struggle, the suspect reportedly fired shots injuring two officers.
Moews said the two officers who were with the force for less than three years were transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center after one officer was shot in the shoulder and the other was shot in the groin and forearm. Moews said that one officer was discharged from the hospital and the other was recovering from his injury.
John Drake Jr.'s criminal history explored as his father Nashville Chief of Police John Drake calls for his arrest
In a press conference on Saturday, the suspect’s father, Nashville Chief of Police John Drake, who was appointed as Nashville’s eighth chief of police in 2020, called for the arrest of his son, 38-year-old John Drake Jr, adding that his thoughts are with the injured officers. During the conference, Drake revealed that he had been estranged from his son for years after he "resorted to criminal activity" starting when he was a teenager.
“I am shocked and deeply saddened to learn that my estranged son, with whom I have had very minimal contact over many years, is the suspect in this afternoon’s shooting of the two La Vergne police officers. Despite my efforts and guidance in the early and teenage years, my son, John Drake Jr., now 38 years old, resorted to years of criminal activity.”
Drake also revealed that his son is a convicted felon whose criminal history dates back to 2005. According to WSMV, the Nashville NBC affiliate, the suspect has reportedly been criminally charged 59 times in Davidson County.
John Drake Jr was convicted of aggravated r*pe of a lesser charge in 2009 and was also found guilty of three different s*x offender violations in 2015, 2019 and 2020.
He was also charged with aggravated burglary, resisting, evading arrest, assault of domestic bodily injury, criminal impersonation and domestic bodily injury in 2007.
Mayor Freddie O’Connell issues a statement supporting police chief John Drake
Mayor Freddie O’Connell issued the following statement in support of the police chief.
“My heart goes out to Chief Drake, his family, and the two wounded LaVergne police officers. I know that despite our best efforts — including in their early years — we can’t be responsible for the choices of family members,” O’Connell said. “I support Chief Drake and stand by him at this difficult time. ”
The suspect who fled the scene in a stolen vehicle after injuring two officers on Saturday had not yet been arrested.
