A 25-year-old man is facing a felony charge after Metro Nashville police say he pulled a BB gun on another man in the parking lot of a Bellevue bar early Sunday morning, cocking it and waving it in the victim's face after the man tried to help him get home safely. Brayan Fernandez was booked into Metro Jail early Sunday and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, with his bond set at $7,500.
A Drink Refusal Sparks Confrontation
According to WKRN News 2, officers were called to Brewhouse West on Charlotte Pike after reports of a person waving a gun. Metro police say Fernandez became upset when a bartender at the West Nashville bar refused to serve him another drink. That refusal likely reflected the legal standard Tennessee places on alcohol vendors: under state law, licensed servers who continue pouring drinks for a visibly intoxicated patron can face liability, a rule attorneys say pushes bartenders to cut off overserved customers, according to The Higgins Firm.
Court documents cited by the station indicate a man at the bar then tried to do the responsible thing, offering to buy Fernandez a rideshare so he would not drive home. Instead of accepting the offer, Fernandez went out to his car. The same documents state that the man followed him to the vehicle, apparently still trying to help.
Gun Pulled, Cocked and Aimed
Once at the car, police say Fernandez reached under the driver's seat and pulled out a BB gun. Metro police reported that he then cocked the weapon and waved it around in the victim's face in the parking lot of the West Nashville bar.
Brewhouse West, at 7108 Charlotte Pike near Bellevue, has operated as a neighborhood sports bar and grill since 2004 and is known locally as the home of Nashville's Original Bushwacker, according to the bar's own account. It keeps late hours, staying open until 3 a.m. daily, per the same profile. The location falls within the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department's West Precinct, headquartered roughly three miles away and covering the corridor stretching from Vanderbilt through Bellevue, per the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.
Why a BB Gun Can Still Mean a Felony
Fernandez's charge, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, is a Class C felony under Tennessee law, carrying a potential sentence of 3 to 15 years in prison and fines up to $10,000, according to the Brooks Law Firm. Tennessee elevates a simple assault to that felony level whenever a weapon is displayed to induce fear, the firm notes.
Even though a BB gun is not an explosive firearm, Tennessee's Supreme Court has held it can still qualify as a deadly weapon under state statute. In the case State v. McGouey, justices found that air and pellet guns count as deadly weapons if displayed or used in a way capable of causing serious bodily injury or inducing a victim's reasonable fear of imminent harm, according to FindLaw. That precedent explains why prosecutors can pursue a felony deadly-weapon charge even when the weapon turns out to fire only plastic pellets — victims typically cannot tell the difference from a real firearm in the middle of a fast-moving confrontation.
What Comes Next in Court
Fernandez's $7,500 bond was set by a judicial commissioner in Davidson County's Night Court, a round-the-clock panel of magistrates at the Criminal Justice Center Annex that handles initial probable cause and bail decisions, according to the General Sessions Court of Metropolitan Nashville & Davidson County. Booking took place at the Davidson County Sheriff's Office Criminal Justice Center at 448 2nd Avenue North, where arrestees are fingerprinted, photographed and checked for outstanding warrants before release, per All Knight Bonding.
Fernandez's case will next move to Davidson County General Sessions Court at the A.A. Birch Building, where felony defendants appear for probable cause determinations and preliminary hearings ahead of any grand jury indictment, according to N. Cate Law.
Part of a Broader Pattern of Weapon Threats
The case follows a pattern Hoodline has documented elsewhere in Nashville this year. In June, Metro police arrested a 43-year-old woman on felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges after she allegedly pulled a gun during an argument inside a Nolensville Pike business. And earlier this month, a South Nashville man was left bleeding after a roommate dispute escalated into a stabbing, with the accused held on a $50,000 bond. Local crime statistics through mid-2026 show overall violent crime down 16.7% and homicides down 29.4% across Metro Nashville compared to the same period last year, though incidents like the one at Brewhouse West show how quickly a routine bar dispute can turn into a felony weapons case.
