Mark Capps, a Grammy-winning recording engineer who had worked in the Nashville music scene for 35 years, was shot and killed by police in Nashville on Thursday afternoon.
A spokesman said he was killed by a member of the SWAT team after aiming a gun at his doorway. This came as police responded to a situation in which Capps allegedly held his wife and adult stepdaughter at gunpoint.
Many people in the local music scene were shocked by the death. Capps came from a well-known Nashville family. His father, Jimmy Capps, was a famous session player, Grand Ole Opry guitarist, and member of the Musicians Hall of Fame.
Jimmy Capps died in 2020. Capps was shot and killed just two days after his brother died, as his social media posts showed. The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department posted body camera footage of the shooting Thursday night.
The glass exterior door to the house makes it hard to see what Capps was doing when he was shot, so it’s hard to tell what he was doing. Gun police say he was detained when he was shot can be seen in a still photo on police video.
At the time of his death, Capps, who was 54, was on the run from aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping. Metropolitan Police spokesman Don Aaron told reporters that around 3 a.m., Capps forced his 60-year-old wife and 23-year-old stepdaughter into their family room with a gun, telling them he would kill them if they called police.
Grammy Award-winning recording engineer Mark Capps was shot dead by SWAT officers after allegedly holding his 60-year-old wife and 23-year-old stepdaughter at gunpoint at his home in suburban Nashville, Tennessee. https://t.co/LHUKJaITiP pic.twitter.com/gZ3731gwMY
— 48 hours (@48hours) January 6, 2023
They were very afraid of him and what he was doing to them by not letting them go. According to police, the two women escaped after he fell asleep around dawn. They went to the Hermitage precinct to file a report. After the warrants were issued at 1:55 p.m., the SWAT team went after him and killed him.
A discography on Capps’ website indicates that since 1987 he has worked with country and gospel artists, including Alabama, the Dixie Chicks, Neil Diamond, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Brooks & Dunn, Barry Manilow, Chris Young, Aaron Tippin, Conway Twitty, Joe Diffie, the Oak Ridge Boys, Big & Rich, the Gaither Vocal Band, John Michael Montgomery, Kenny Rogers, Donna Summer, the Mavericks, Anita Cochran, Kenny Loggins, Olivia Newton-John and the Isaacs, under others .
The Recording Academy website shows that he won a Grammy from 2005 to 2008 for best polka album with the group Jimmy Sturr & His Orchestra. “Just after the warrants were issued, SWAT was preparing in case he barricaded himself inside,” Aaron told reporters, per News Channel 5.
“He came to the door with a gun in hand. At that moment he was fatally shot. We have since learned that there were cameras monitoring the outside of the house. He may very well have seen them outside the residence. They were in SWAT gear and clearly marked as members of the police force.
Take a look at:
The Nashville Police Department posted video of the shooting, which you can see below, along with commentary from Aaron. The disturbing video clip is only for people over the age of 18. It shows a cop standing outside a glass screen door as the inner door opens to reveal a person in pajamas.
The officer screams “Show me your hands!” just before he starts firing, and he says it again as he opens the broken door. When the cops come in, they see that one “It’s a wonderful life” The Christmas decorations swing back and forth on the inner door. Aaron ends the YouTube clip by saying an investigation will be launched to ensure the officers did the right thing.
Here’s Ring CCTV footage a neighbor gave me showing SWAT arriving at the home of 4x Grammy winner Mark Capps Hermitage on Thursday. @WKRN pic.twitter.com/gwEud79TLp
— Peyton Kennedy (@peytonTVkennedy) January 6, 2023
In his video statement, the Nashville Police Department spokesman provided more details than what reporters were told earlier in the day. Aaron says in the YouTube video that Capps’ wife and stepdaughter told police he had threatened to kill them and that if the police showed up he would shoot them too.
Two days before the accident that killed him, Capps had just buried his brother. Yesterday, Capps’ last public Facebook post said: “No words. RIP Jeffery Allen Capps, December 31, 1967 – January 3, 2023,” next to an undated photo of himself and his brother standing in front of their father’s grave… Just follow us on Lee Daily for more news like this.
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