Photo Credit: Mark Capps
The Metro Nashville Police Department has confirmed its officer shot and killed Mark Capps, a recording engineer, during an attempted arrest.
According to local reports, the incident happened when officers fired on Mark Caps, a 54-year-old man who was armed. He was wanted on two counts of aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping involving incidents with his 60-year-old wife and 23-year-old stepdaughter. Capps is a Grammy-winning recording engineer who worked with Alabama, Ronnie Milsap, Shenandoah, Amy Grant, Brooks & Dunn, Blake Shelton, Big & Rich, and other big names, according to his discography.
A body cam video of the shooting shows officers talking at Capps through a glass door with a screen. The officers ask Capps to show his hands and a few seconds later, officers shoot and kill him. “He told them if they called someone, he would kill them,” police spokesperson Don Aaron said. “They were extremely frightened by him and his actions toward them in not letting them leave.”
Aaron says Capps was throwing things in the home and threatening his family with the gun, not allowing them to leave. After Capps fell asleep, the two victims fled the residence and sought police help. Officers took their statements in detail and issued warrants to arrest Capps.
“Just after the arrest warrants were issued, SWAT was preparing in the event he barricaded himself inside,” Aaron continues. “He came to the door with a gun in his hand. At that point, he was fatally shot. We have since learned there were cameras monitoring the outside of the home. He may have well seen them outside the residence. They were in SWAT gear and clearly marked to him as members of the police department.”
Both the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Metro Nashville Community Oversight Board are reviewing the shooting incident. Mark Capps death comes just two days after his older brother Jeffrey Allen Capps died. Both men were sons of legendary Grand Ole Opry guitarist Jimmy Capps, who passed away in 2020. From 2005 to 2008, Capps won the Grammy for Best Polka Album for his work with Jimmy Sturr & His Orchestra.
