In a case spotlighting the ongoing issue of gun violence on public transportation, Shawn Terry Demont Newby, a 44-year-old Nashville man, was handed a 5-year federal prison sentence for discharging a firearm at a WeGo bus station after a verbal spat turned dangerously physical, a manifestation of the violence that plagues many of the nation's city streets. According to an announcement by Acting United States Attorney Robert E. McGuire for the Middle District of Tennessee, obtained by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Newby, who had a previous felony record, pled guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The incident itself took place on January 6, 2024, unfolding after a confrontation at the WeGo bus station located at 3458 Dickerson Pike, where security footage caught Newby using a gun after trading words with another individual near the stop and before he brazenly informed the bus driver of his identity, surveillance video recorded by the bus showing the defendant announcing, “My name is Shawn Newby,” and as Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) officers arrived to the scene in response, Newby was found nonchalant on a nearby sidewalk, tossing a pistol aside as law enforcement approached which was later discovered by the officers in the grass alongside .22 caliber shell casings that peppered the surrounding bus area, as detailed by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Newby's criminal history includes convictions of Voluntary Manslaughter, Reckless Endangerment with a Deadly Weapon, theft over $1,000, and Felon in Possession of a Firearm, details of which resurface in the wake of this latest act of violence. Post-incarceration, Newby will undergo 3 years of supervised release, a sentencing feature intended to offer some form of rehabilitation and reintegration into the society that he once disrupted with the echo of gunfire.
This case is part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative—a nationwide effort by law enforcement to reduce violent crime, especially gun violence, and help communities become safer and more resilient.
