Man turns self in after shooting at TV station

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Police surrounded an area of South Highland Street near the University of Memphis on Tuesday after a shooting at a TV station.

A shot was fired into the Fox 13 lobby, hitting a desk; no one was injured.

MPD and the alleged shooter’s mother identified him as 26-year-old Jarrad Nathan.

Nathan’s mother says he’s dealt with mental health issues for much of his life.

Nathan surrendered to police after an hour-long barricade inside the nearby Ubee’s restaurant.

Police say he is charged with aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.

Police say Nathan wanted to speak with the news team, but ended up firing a shot into glass at the station with an AR-style rifle. It’s unclear if the shot was fired by accident or with malice.

“I think that my son is crying out for attention because he needs some help,” Marsha McKinney said. “Anybody that would come to the news and shoot at anybody for that is a cry for some help. And if he once again needs some help and you’re telling me, that was the case then he needs some help.”

Memphis police say Nathan was sheltered inside Ubee’s for more than an hour.

Police say he was taken into custody after 1 p.m. after crisis negotiators were able to convince Nathan to turn himself in.

Businesses in the area of Highland and Walker Avenue were placed on lockdown after the shot was fired.

An Ubee’s worker who’s only been on the job for two weeks said he was scared when police came in to evacuate the employees from the restaurant.

“We found out that dude hammering up in our building, so we check the bathrooms and we found out the bathroom was locked,” Jermaine Morris said. “So then we knew he was in there so we took off. They told us they swarmed the whole building.”

Favour Oscar, a freshman at the university, said he has just finished a final exam and was walking down Highland to get a snack when the university sent an alert to his phone about the shooting.

“We’re still kind of children, you know. We’re just trying to figure out what life is. Now everyone is out running around. It’s like, life could end so abruptly with all the things going on around here,” Oscar said.

He said he’s ready to wrap up this school year after a few big incidents on campus.

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