Nashville producer fatally shot by cops after hostage situation

A Grammy Award-winning sound engineer was shot and killed by a SWAT team in Tennessee, hours after his wife and stepdaughter escaped their home and told authorities they’d been held against their will.

Mark Capps, a staple of the Nashville music scene for more than 25 years, was fatally shot by officers on Thursday at his home in the Hermitage neighborhood, Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron said. Officers at the time were responding to allegations Capps had dragged his wife and stepdaughter into their family room at gunpoint around 3 a.m. and “told them if they called someone, he would kill them.

“They were extremely frightened by him and his actions toward them in not letting them leave,” Aaron said in a news update.

Capps fell asleep shortly before dawn, allowing the women to flee and report him to local law enforcement. In response, police sent three SWAT officers to arrest Capps on two charges of aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping, Aaron said.

When officers arrived on the scene, however, Capps immediately flung open his front door, firearm in hand.

Video of the confrontation appears to show the door of the home opening. Then an officer can be heard yelling, “Show me your hands,” before firing seconds later.

Responding officer Kendall Coon “deemed that Capps’ movements posed an immediate, imminent threat and fired,” Aaron said.

Capps was pronounced dead on the scene.

According to his website, Capps was a multi-platinum Grammy award-winning engineer/mixer/producer. He worked with many artists including The Chicks, Neil Diamond, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Brooks & Dunn and Barry Manilow.

With News Wire Services