On Wednesday, Nashville authorities detained 23-year-old convicted felon Chance Vaughn in relation to the gunfire that disrupted the night outside Club La Danse on April 21. It was during that incident on Rosa L. Parks Boulevard that a bystander, a 26-year-old woman, suffered a leg wound when a dispute escalated into a shooting spree. The violence originated, as per the Nashville Police Department, when security removed a patron who had assaulted a female at the club, leading his associates to retaliate with bullets.
Vaughn, now facing various felony charges, is accused of having retrieved and supplied the firearm that his co-defendant used to fire at the club. In a chain of events that seemed almost ceremoniously reckless, Vaughn was charged with three counts of aggravated assault, gun possession by a convicted felon, reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, and a violation of probation. The Nashville Police Department, in its ongoing investigation, anticipates additional arrests. The unfortunate shooting took place in the small early hours, at around 12:25 a.m, adding to the fray of the already pulsating nightlife filled with patrons and bystanders, among them the unintentionally wounded woman at a nearby hotdog stand.
Chance Vaughn seems to know the inside of a courtroom quite well, having been convicted last August of felony reckless endangerment with a weapon. This conviction led to Vaughn receiving a two-year suspended community corrections sentence. But the court calls continued; just a few months later, in November, Vaughn was back before the judge, this time getting convicted for felony evading arrest in a motor vehicle, ending with another two-year suspended community corrections sentence. As of now, Vaughn remains in custody without bond; his future legal proceedings in both Criminal and General Sessions Courts are imminent.
Few details bond Vaughn to the wider narrative around Nashville's struggle against the rise of gun violence, but his name is etched deeply into the most recent page. The story continues to unfold, immunity granted to none, as the shooting rattles not only those directly involved, but it reverberates through the corridors of the city itself, pleading for a redemption that can seem so distant. As the Nashville Police Department states, the investigation into the April 21 shooting outside Club La Danse is still active, with potential for more panels to be added to this grim tapestry of a night when the music turned to mayhem.
