Image Credit: MNPD & Google Maps
The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
Four months after Belmont University student Jillian Ludwig was fatally shot in the head, the man who shot her was charged in the case.
Ludwig was hit by a stray bullet on the night of November 7 as she walked along the track in Edgehill Memorial Gardens Park in Nashville.
According to Nashville police, 29-year-old Shaquille Taylor fired a gun from a public housing unit near the park. While it missed the car he intended it for, it hit Ludwig.
Taylor was indicted this month on charges of felony murder and tampering with evidence.
This was not Taylor’s first violent incident. In fact, it is reported that he has been criminally charged a number of times, dating back to 2010. His crimes include robbery, theft of a vehicle, possession of a handgun, and several aggravated assault charges. In many cases, he was allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges.
He and another suspect allegedly shot at a vehicle in which a woman and her two children were sitting.
Taylor was found to be not competent to stand trial in that case and the charges were dismissed. State and federal law prohibit authorities from prosecuting individuals who are unable to understand their crimes or the legal process.
According to NBC News, a brain infection at birth caused Taylor to “function at a kindergarten level” and he is diagnosed with an intellectual disability and a language impairment.
However, Taylor also did not meet the criteria to be involuntarily committed to a mental health facility, so he was released.
Taylor was also scheduled to be in court the week before Ludwig’s murder for another charge, but he did not show up for that appointment.
This case has pushed state lawmakers to take a closer look at Tennessee laws, leading them to introduce legislation that would provide more leeway for courts to commit individuals who are not fit to stand trial.
Late last year, Speaker of the Tennessee House, Cameron Sexton, pointed his finger at the Tennessee Senate, expressing that the Senate had the opportunity to pass legislation during the “special session on public safety” that would have kept Shaquille Taylor off the streets of Nashville and, subsequently, prevented the death of Jillian Ludwig.
Taylor will face a new competency hearing in the Ludwig case in the upcoming weeks.
