Murfreesboro Manhunt Widens After Gunfire Into Home Uncovers 22 Pounds of Weed

Murfreesboro police are still searching for a 19-year-old man accused of firing multiple gunshots into a home on Fourth Avenue while five people slept inside, an attack that investigators say was not random but tied to a personal conflict with someone living in the house. The shooting happened just after midnight on July 31, and it set off a chain of events that led detectives not to the shooter, but to a house full of drugs a few miles away.

Police say Uziel Hernandez-Perez fired multiple rounds into the Fourth Avenue home at 12:44 a.m., with bullets striking a vehicle parked in the driveway, according to WSMV. He now faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and four counts of reckless endangerment. No one was hurt in the shooting, but investigators believe the attack was deliberate — the result of an ongoing personal dispute between Hernandez-Perez and one of the residents inside, rather than a random act of violence.

The case broke open almost instantly because of the city's gunshot detection technology. Murfreesboro's Real Time Crime Center was alerted to the gunfire the moment it happened, through automated sensors that flagged the shooting before officers ever received a 911 call. That center integrates gunshot sensors with public safety cameras and license plate readers to help officers respond in real time, per the city's own description of the system.

License Plate Readers Trace a Fleeing Honda to Twin Oak Drive

Almost immediately after the alert went out, a Middle Tennessee State University Police Department officer spotted a Honda sedan fleeing the area near Fourth Avenue. Detectives used that sighting, combined with automated license plate reader technology, to trace the vehicle back to a residence on Twin Oak Drive — a piece of inter-agency coordination that turned a fleeting glimpse of a car into a search warrant.

When MPD detectives executed that warrant at the Twin Oak Drive property, they did not find the suspect. Instead, they recovered roughly 22.2 pounds of vacuum-sealed marijuana and a Glock handgun believed to have been used in the Fourth Avenue shooting. Two people at the residence, 46-year-old Bruna Iveth Animas-Flores and 51-year-old Rafael Bocanegra Trejo, were arrested and charged with felony Schedule VI drug offenses, maintaining a dwelling for drug use, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Both were booked into the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center, where a judge set bond at $52,500 each. They are scheduled to appear in General Sessions Court on October 1. Hernandez-Perez, meanwhile, remains at large, and police have asked anyone with information on his whereabouts to contact lead Detective Ayers or call 629-201-5660.

Surveillance Contract Faced Local Pushback Before the Shooting

The technology that cracked the case did not appear overnight. In June, the Murfreesboro City Council voted unanimously to approve a two-year, $243,898 contract extension with Flock Safety for its Raven gunshot detection system, which covers roughly 5 of the city's 64 square miles based on violent crime statistics, according to the Nashville Scene. That renewal passed despite ongoing public debate and Fourth Amendment privacy concerns raised by residents, a tension Hoodline has previously reported on.

This is not the first time the city's surveillance network has helped detectives track down suspects fleeing a shooting scene through license plate data. It's also not the only active gun violence case Murfreesboro police are working right now — just days ago, Hoodline reported on a separate shooting at a local apartment complex where the gunman remains on the loose.

Potential Charges Carry Years in Prison

If Hernandez-Perez is caught and convicted, the charges he faces carry serious prison time under Tennessee law. Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon is classified as a Class C felony under Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-13-102, carrying a potential sentence of 3 to 15 years and fines of up to $10,000, according to Shipman & Crim. State law defines a firearm as a deadly weapon regardless of whether it made physical contact or caused injury.

Separately, discharging a firearm into a home is treated differently depending on whether anyone was inside at the time. Under Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-13-103, firing into an occupied home is a Class C felony, while firing into an unoccupied home is a Class D felony carrying 2 to 12 years, according to the Oberman & Rice Law Firm.

Several questions remain open in the case. It is not yet confirmed whether the Glock recovered on Twin Oak Drive matches ballistics from the Fourth Avenue scene, whether Hernandez-Perez acted alone, or exactly what triggered the personal conflict investigators say sparked the shooting. Until Hernandez-Perez is located, detectives are continuing to lean on the same network of sensors and cameras that broke the case open in its first hours.