Prosecutor: Fatal Shooting of Grammy Winner by Police ‘Reasonably Necessary’

Prosecutor: Fatal Shooting of Grammy Winner by Police ‘Reasonably Necessary’
Nashville Police gather at the scene after a Metro Nashville Police officer shot and killed Grammy-winning sound engineer Mark Capps while at his home to arrest him on warrants in Nashville, Tenn., on Jan. 5, 2023. Andrew Nelles/The Tennessean via AP
The Associated Press
Updated:

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The fatal shooting of a Grammy-winning sound engineer by police earlier this year was “reasonably necessary,” a Tennessee prosecutor said on Wednesday.

The decision in January’s fatal shooting of Mark Capps, 54, comes after a review of a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation report, the autopsy and video evidence, Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk said in a statement.

A Metro Nashville Police officer killed Capps while at his home to arrest him on warrants charging him with two counts each of aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping, authorities have said. His 60-year-old wife and 23-year-old stepdaughter told police he had held them in the home at gunpoint, according to police.

When officers went to the home, Capps opened the front door armed with a pistol, and Officer Kendall Coon yelled at him to show his hands, police said at the time of the shooting.

Video of the shooting appears to show the door of the home opening and an officer can be heard yelling “Show me your hands” before firing seconds later. Capps died at the scene.

Capps’ website says he is a multiplatinum Grammy award-winning engineer/mixer/producer. He won four Grammys for his work on polka albums. His website lists several other albums on which he has done mixing and engineering work.