A homeless man was charged with two counts of attempted murder after he attacked a husband and wife with a machete at a Public Storage warehouse in Pie Town, according to police.
Metro Nashville Police said in a release that Kelvin Edwards, 35, randomly attacked the couple as they waited as customers inside the office of the storage facility located across from a Greyhound Bus Lines terminal and next to the Landing Strip strip club.
Edwards told police that he was frustrated by the coronavirus pandemic and that he could not enter the Rescue Mission, so he demonstrated his anger in a violent act on people he did not know.
Police received the emergency call at 2:47 p.m. Nashville Rescue Mission CEO Glenn Cranfield said security camera footage showed Edwards was denied access to the homeless shelter at 2:29 p.m. because he did not provide proof of a COVID-19 negative test.
Cranfield declined to provide the video footage, but he said the police could obtain it if requested.
Beginning March 27, the Rescue Mission began issuing five-day bed tickets to keep occupants in the same bed and adhere to CDC guidelines, according to Cranfield. If an occupant is absent from the shelter for one night, they must test negative for COVID-19 to re-enter.
ranfield said Edwards left the Mission on March 29 and did not return until Sunday afternoon.
"(Edwards) had his temperature checked and verified that he didn't have a (high temperature). But he did not have a (new) bed ticket, per our new CDC guidelines," Cranfield said. "He had one, but it was expired from March.
"The staff told him he needed to go to one of the testing facilities, get tested and cleared and to bring that back for a new bed ticket," Cranfield continued. "He crumpled up the bed ticket that was expired. He threw it on the ground and headed out the door. He was apparently headed toward Middleton Street, and I believe the incident at the storage facility took place about 15 minutes later."