Nashville Chiefs Struggle with Son: A Family’s Story of Resilience and Redemption. John C. Drake Jr., 38, is accused of shooting two police officers outside a Dollar General store in La Vergne, Tennessee. He was still the subject of a manhunt on Monday, and police said they considered him to be armed and dangerous.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation put him on its most wanted list with a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to his arrest.
Officers Ashely Boleyjack and Gregory Kern were investigating a stolen vehicle outside the store when they struggled with the suspect, who pulled a handgun and shot them. Both officers were treated and released from Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Chief Drake issued a statement Saturday confirming his son was the suspect in the shooting. He said his son has not been part of his life for some time.
Drake grew up in a working-class area of Nashville where he credits several mentors, including coaches and a neighbor, with helping him become a success. He has been particularly interested in using the police force to keep young people out of trouble.
As an officer, he worked for 15 years with the Police Athletic League, “helping kids, building kids, building their relationships. Working on some of their environmental factors by having coaches as mentors,” he said in 2020 during an interview for the job of police chief.
As chief, Drake brought the program back, this time as the Police Activities League, in recognition that not all kids want to play sports. The league held a day camp for kids over fall break, is developing boxing, basketball, tutoring, and mentoring programs, and recruiting students for a Cops & Kids Chorus.
Drake Jr. pleaded guilty to felonies for a 2008 aggravated rape and a 2017 aggravated assault, court records show. He has faced various criminal charges over more than 17 years, with a mix of convictions and dismissals.
In the aggravated rape case, Drake Jr. was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2009 and was released in 2015 to community supervision for life.
The aggravated assault case resulted in a six-year sentence in 2018, a split confinement in which a judge ordered him to serve a year in jail and the rest of the sentence on probation.
In 2007, an arrest affidavit says Drake Jr. broke into his mother’s house, moving around items before he was discovered and fled. Drake Jr. pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal trespass, a misdemeanor. Three attorneys who represented Drake Jr. in previous criminal cases did not respond to requests for comment.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued a statewide alert for John C. Drake Jr., who is wanted on two counts of attempted first-degree murder.
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell issued a statement in support of the police chief, saying his heart goes out to Chief Drake, his family, and the two wounded La Vergne police officers.
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