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16-year-old accused of shooting 3 family members in east Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – A 16-year-old was arrested Tuesday morning after police he shot three family members inside an east Nashville apartment complex.

The teenager, whose identity has not been released, is accused of shooting his grandmother, 12-year-old sister, and 6-year-old nephew at Berkshire Place around 7 a.m.

Metro police spokeswoman Kristin Mumford said it happened as the boy’s 67-year-old grandmother and 42-year-old mother were trying to wake him up before school.

An argument reportedly broke out, and that’s when police say the teenager made threatening remarks and pulled a handgun from his closet.

The 16-year-old allegedly began firing, striking his grandmother twice and grazing both his sister and nephew.

They were transported to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.

The teen’s mother and 2-year-old sister, who were also inside the apartment at the time, were not injured.

Police said the teen ran from the apartment after the shooting, dropping the gun along the way, before he was taken into custody around 8 a.m. on Straightaway Avenue.

Some nearby schools, including Cora Howe Elementary, a polling location for Super Tuesday, were briefly placed on lockdown as a precaution as police searched for the juvenile.

Police are working to determine where the teen got the gun. His family said they did not know he was in possession of a firearm.

The 16-year-old, who attends Johnson Alternative Learning Center, remains in police custody and is charged with four counts of attempted homicide and one count of reckless endangerment.