NASHVILLE, TN — A Metro Nashville Police officer has been relieved of duty after a weekend shooting that left a 54-year-old man dead and prompted investigators to review edited police video of the encounter.
Police say Officer Joshua Baney fired three shots after getting out of his patrol car. The department says the man, identified as 54-year-old Jason William Sexton, was armed with a sword when he was shot.
Sexton was taken to a hospital, where he later died from his injuries. Police also say a 26-year-old woman was found in the back seat of the vehicle and was not hurt.
Police say the man was armed with a sword when shots were fired
Metro Nashville Police released edited video from the incident as part of the public account of what happened. In that footage, Baney can be seen getting out of his patrol car before firing at Sexton.
The department says the shooting happened over the weekend, though it has not publicly laid out every moment leading up to the gunfire. Officials have said only that Sexton was armed with a sword at the time of the encounter.
After the shooting, Sexton was rushed to a hospital for treatment. He did not survive, and police later confirmed his death was caused by the injuries he suffered in the shooting.
Woman found in the back seat was not injured
Investigators also found a second person inside the vehicle: a 26-year-old woman in the back seat. Police say she was being held against her will during the incident.
Authorities said the woman was not injured. No additional details were immediately released about her condition beyond that confirmation.
The presence of the woman adds another major element to the case, but police have not described in detail how she was connected to Sexton or what led officers to encounter the vehicle in the first place.
Officer Joshua Baney has been relieved of duty during review
The police department said Baney has been relieved of duty while the shooting is investigated. That step means he is no longer performing regular police work as the case is reviewed.
Metro Nashville Police have not announced any criminal charges or disciplinary conclusions. The department’s statement indicates only that the officer status change is tied to the active investigation.
Relieving an officer of duty during a critical incident review is a common administrative step, but it does not by itself determine whether the use of force was justified. That question remains part of the broader inquiry.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation takes the lead on the case
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is leading the review into the shooting. That makes the state agency the primary investigative body looking at the circumstances surrounding the fatal encounter.
As the lead agency, the bureau will examine the video, the officers’ actions, and other evidence gathered from the scene. Metro Nashville Police have not said when the review may be completed.
For now, the case remains open, and officials have limited their public comments to the basic facts that were confirmed after the shooting.
Edited video and public warning underscore the seriousness of the encounter
Before releasing the footage, police warned that some people may find the video disturbing and advised viewer discretion. That warning signals the graphic and stressful nature of the encounter as presented by investigators.
The department chose to show edited video rather than an uncut recording, a common practice in police critical-incident releases. The footage is intended to give the public a clearer view of the moments immediately surrounding the shooting.
Even with that release, many details remain under investigation. Police have not explained every decision made by the officer or the circumstances that brought Sexton and the woman into the vehicle before the shooting began.
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