Katie Quackenbush, a 27-year-old aspiring alt-country singer/rapper, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to the attempted murder of a homeless man following an August 2017 shooting on Music Row. Quackenbush waived her right to an appearance and her plea was entered by her attorney on her behalf.
According to police, Quackenbush shot 55-year-old Gerald Melton, who is homeless, during an early morning encounter August 26, last year. Police say Quackenbush and Melton got in an argument related to the noise and exhaust coming from the defendant’s Porsche SUV.
According to investigators, Melton was trying to sleep on the sidewalk at 3 a.m. when the fumes and music “disturbed” him and he asked the driver of the Porsche, alleged to have been Quackenbush, to move the vehicle. This led to an argument and Melton told police he walked back to his sleeping spot.
Quackenbush reportedly, loaded her pistol, got out of her Porsche and asked her victim ‘do you want to die tonight?’ and fired two shots at Melton, who was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to abdomen. Quackenbush’s passenger confirmed to police that Quackenbush was the shooter, according to an arrest affidavit.
At an earlier hearing, Melton testified that, generally, that was true and didn’t deny using racist and sexist language during the confrontation.
“Even if I did say that it’s not an excuse to shoot me,” he testified, according to The Tennessean.
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Katie Layne Quackenbush shot Doug Melton when he asked her to turn down the volume of the music in her Porsche in Nashville, TN on Aug 26, 2017

Victim Gerald Melton says although the argument was heated it did not give Quackenbush the right to shoot him