Aiexpress – In 2023, a stray bullet killed an 18-year-old student at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Her parents are suing several people and groups because they left their daughter to die on a sidewalk for about an hour.
In the Davidson County wrongful death case, it is said that 18-year-old Jillian Ludwig “was killed in a shooting that was made possible by the multiple combined acts of negligence and recklessness committed by the Defendants here in Davidson County, Tennessee.”
The people who are being sued are the city of Nashville, the state of Tennessee, the Nashville Metro Development and Housing Agency (MDHA), Belmont University, state or city workers who checked on shooting suspect Shaquille Latrelle Taylor’s mental health, a gun dealer who sold Taylor a gun, and other people.
The claim says that Ludwig “was seen as a rising star by many in the music business” at the time of her death. She was in three bands and played at well-known Nashville places. She could play six instruments.
“Jillian loved her family and friends, and she was a radiant and talented young woman with a bright future ahead of her,” it says.
Following a list of alleged failures, the claim goes on to explain how Taylor, who had been found not competent to stand trial in a different criminal case before Ludwig’s death, got illegally possession of a gun and fired it in the area where Ludwig was running on November 7, 2023.
Around 2:20 p.m. that day, Ludwig was jogging on a track in Edgehill Community Memorial Gardens Park, which is just northeast of Belmont’s campus. She was hit by gunfire that was reportedly meant for someone else, according to the Nashville Police Department at the time.
Police in Nashville arrested 29-year-old repeat offender Taylor in connection with the shooting that left Ludwig in critical condition at the hospital before she was declared dead on November 8.
A grand jury indicted Taylor, who had a long history of crime, on many counts in March. These included first-degree murder, felony weapons possession with criminal purpose, five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and reckless endangerment.
“Jillian lay bleeding at this location…in plain view, in broad daylight, for over an hour before she was found by police and provided medical attention,” it says.
Matthew Ludwig, Ludwig’s father, told Fox News Digital that the killing “could have been avoided at all costs.”
In November 2023, he said, “And the laws that were in place did not work.”
The lawsuit says that Belmont University knew or should have known to tell students that Ludwig had been running in a dangerous area because they had already given “other security warnings… to students in other less dangerous areas.”
Belmont University said it has little to say about the lawsuit that is still being worked on. However, the school said in a statement that the “entire campus shares in the continued grief of Jillian’s death” and that the community has been and will stay “deeply committed to the safety” of its students.
In the lawsuit, it is also said that the Nashville MDHA, which owned the apartment complex where Taylor, a felon, allegedly fired his illegally owned gun into the park where Ludwig was running, should have “ensured that Taylor was not using a handgun” on its property.
The Nashville Department of Law, which handles legal requests for the Nashville government, said it would not comment on this case until it is over. The metro housing office also said it could not comment on a case that was still in court.
Jenny Matthai, Dr. Michael Loftin, and Dr. Mary Jane Wood, all of whom worked for the Tennessee government, are also named as defendants in the lawsuit. It is said that these three doctors gave “conflicting evaluations” that said Taylor was too mentally unstable to stand trial but not so mentally unstable that he could be held incommunicado for crimes he committed before the shooting that killed Ludwig.
Taylor was not charged with a crime and was not locked up against his will, which put Jillian at a high risk of serious harm, according to the lawsuit.
“These defendants also knew that Taylor had a history of violence and gun violence while he was in their care and custody. The claim also says that Matthai, Loftin, and Wood “knew or should have known in the exercise of sound professional judgment” that Taylor would probably hurt other people if he was freed.
Fox News Digital asked the Tennessee Department of Disability and Aging a question, but they didn’t answer.
Freddie O’Connell, the mayor of Nashville, told Fox News Digital that his “heart still aches for Jillian Ludwig, her family, and the whole Belmont community.”
“Last year, we all felt sad about all the senseless gun violence.” “I’m still moved by how strong the Belmont community was as a whole as they grieved Jillian’s death, and I hope the Ludwig family knows how much we support them,” O’Connell said. “We continue to look for effective solutions to reduce gun violence in our community.”
Lawyers for the Ludwigs wouldn’t say anything about the case at the time of release out of respect for the family.
Until rules change, Matthew Ludwig told Fox News Digital in 2023, “this could happen to anyone.” And in April 2023, the Ludwig family was able to do just that when Jillian’s law was passed. This law says that dependents who are found to be mentally unfit to stand trial must be housed in the right mental health center.
The law also says that relatives who are found to not be able to stand trial must be added to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System so that they can’t buy guns.
