The husband of an attempted robbery victim in Nashville chased down the would-be thief and opened fire on the suspect, police said.
Ponce allegedly ran up to the woman from behind and tried to steal her purse. But when she wouldn’t let go, the suspect bashed her head against a building wall, according to the release, prompting her to scream.
The woman’s 29-year-old husband heard the screams and rushed out of the apartment to intervene.
Ponce reportedly disengaged and fled running toward a parking lot, police said. The husband ran after him, and the two men reportedly got into a second fight. At one point Ponce hit the woman’s husband in the head and got up, according to the Tennessean.
The husband told the police that he was concerned about what Ponce might do then, so the husband pulled out a gun and opened fire.
One bullet struck Ponce in the abdomen.
Police said Ponce then fled the area in a silver Acura. He was later dropped off in the same vehicle at TriStar Southern Hills Medical Center, police said, adding that Ponce is understood to have suffered a serious injury.
Stolen Silver Acura
Police later discovered that the silver Acura that Ponce was dropped off in at the medical center had been stolen.Fox reported that the police said the vehicle was stolen 90 minutes before the attempted robbery. Investigators reportedly located the car the following day.
A police representative told Fox News on Tuesday that Ponce remained in hospital and was being treated for wounds to his hands and stomach.
Ponce is expected to face charges, the department representative told Fox, adding that she was not aware of any expected charges against the husband who intervened and shot the suspect.
The outlet reported that Ponce has one previous charge dating back to 2017, for no driver’s license. That charge was later dismissed.
Nashville Crime Rates
According to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, which compiles yearly crime statistics, the Nashville area saw an increase from 2016 to 2017 (the most recent year of available data) in multiple categories of crime.The Metro police explained that the statistics provided don’t include all types of crime, explaining that “these Part I crimes include eight selected crime classifications (murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson ) because they are the crimes most likely to be reported, they are most likely to occur with sufficient frequency to provide an adequate basis for comparison, and are serious crimes by nature.”
The police noted that the above types of crime “are the immediate focus of police activity.”
The second most substantial growth in crime rates in Nashville pertained to murder and nonnegligent homicide, which grew from 83 incidents in 2016 to 111 incidents in 2017. This represents a growth of 33.73 percent.
Aggravated assaults using firearms are up 25.6 percent, the category seeing the third-highest uptick.
Instances of aggravated assaults using “Hands, Fists, etc.—Aggravated injury,” however, saw the most substantial fall in frequency, with figures showing a drop of 18.10 percent.
