HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Four teenagers are now locked up after an alleged drug deal went bad in Hendersonville.
The robbery and assault took place at 2 a.m. in a Hendersonville apartment parking lot.
It’s there that the Hendersonville Police Department told News 2, multiple teens robbed and assaulted a young man — a teen from Marshall County.
The crime was initially reported to authorities as a robbery and assault, but police quickly determined the teens knew each other and it was a marijuana deal gone bad.
According to HPD, it all began when 18-year-old Thomas Spires of Lewisburg called Sumner County 911 claiming he was robbed and beaten.
“I was jumped and they got my phone and they took three chains off my neck, threw me on the ground and started stomping,” Spires could be heard telling dispatchers.
“They put him on the ground kicking and assaulting him and just left him there,” added HPD Sgt. Christopher Gagnon.
The Lewisburg teen told dispatchers that he was in the parking lot walking his dog when suddenly multiple teenagers jumped him and knocked him to the ground, stealing his chains in the process.
Spires: “They do got guns.”
Dispatcher: “They do have weapons?”
Spires: “They do have a pistol. It’s a Glock 17 and it has armor-piercing rounds in it.”
“Any time we have firearms involved things tend to escalate quickly,” Sgt Gagnon said.
Thankfully, no gunfire was exchanged and Spires’s injuries were considered minor.
Hendersonville patrol and flex units saturated the area and quickly find a 14-year-old, a 17-year-old and 18-year-old Brandon Taylor.
“This was good surveillance and good canvassing,” Sgt. Gagnon said.
According to investigators, 18-year-old Taylor pulled a gun on Spires while the other boys slammed Spires to the ground, kicking him, then stealing his jewelry and taking the marijuana that police say Spires brought with him.
“He had known them from previously being in a group home,” Gagnon said. “They showed up down here to execute this drug deal, and one of the guys with him pulled a gun and held him at gunpoint while they took all his stuff.”
In the end, police recovered a gun as well as Spires’s three chains that the other teens were wearing at the time of their arrest.
“Unfortunately, have to keep an eye on their kids, they can’t let them out, this occurred at 2 a.m. and there was no business for any of them being out, any one of them could have ended up dead,” Gagnon said, pointing to the lack of supervision by the parents as the reason for this crime.
Taylor was charged with aggravated robbery, possession of marijuana and minor in possession of tobacco. He was transported to the Sumner County Jail. His bond is $10,000.
The 17-year-old and 14-year-old apprehended with him were also charged and taken to a juvenile detention facility.
As for the 18-year-old alleged victim, Thomas Spires, he too was charged and taken to the Sumner County Jail.
Police say he lied to the police. He was charged with making a false report. His bond is $5,000.
