A 26-year-old Tennessee woman has been arrested after she shot a homeless man who asked her to move her Porsche, Nashville metro detectives allege.
The Tennessean reports that 54-year-old homeless man Gerald Melton was critically injured this week when he was shot twice by Katie Quackenbush, who was driving a Porsche SUV near the area where he was trying to sleep.
Police say Melton asked Quackenbush to move the SUV because its exhaust fumes and loud music were impairing his ability to sleep. The two then got into a loud argument with each other, and then Quackenbush allegedly exited the vehicle holding a gun that she then used to shoot Melton twice, leaving him with a wounded abdomen.
Police say Quackenbush then got back into her car and fled the scene.
Quackenbush's father, Texas attorney Jesse Quackenbush, defended his daughter after her arrest by claiming that the homeless man was threatening to kill her shortly before she decided to get out of the car and fire her weapon at him.
"She didn’t try and kill this guy," he said. "She had no intention of killing him. She didn’t know that she hit him... She did say she closed her eyes when she shot both times, but they were warnings, and she thought she pointed away from him."
Katie Quackenbush has been charged with attempted murder, and is scheduled to appear in court on October 6.