ANTIOCH, Tenn. (WTVF) — The need for a Metro Police precinct in southeast Nashville is growing, but the wait may have just been extended.
This comes after a 16-year-old died in a shooting.
Councilwoman Tanaka Vercher is out of patience after Mario Lopez was shot and killed this week in the backseat of a car in Antioch.
Mayor John Cooper announced — during his state of Metro address — the new southeast police precinct was to break ground in the spring of 2023.
Vercher said the project manager overseeing it told her in writing it's not happening until 2024.
"We’ve seen teens get shot. We’ve seen crossing guards get hit. We’ve had the Waffle House shooting, church shootings here, and a neighbor tied to the downtown bombing. I frankly don’t know what it’s going to take to get public safety resources out here in southeast Davidson," Vercher said.
Councilwoman Vercher is still trying to wrap her head around the murder of Lopez.
He was in the back seat of a car when it was shot at multiple times. The driver and passenger were injured and survived.
Mario's mother Laura Lopez is devastated. Her family friend translated for her to NewsChannel 5.
"He's the kind of person that was very serious, but a good student. He didn't have problems with no one," a friend of the Lopez's said.
Right now police are trying to locate a suspect.
"He liked music. He’s the type in this kind of situation where he would talk with you. He was a really nice person," Lopez's friend explained.
Councilwoman Vercher's heart aches for the family. She said it’s another example of why the city needs to move quickly to build the police precinct off Murfreesboro Pike.
She said community members call and wait long periods of time for an officer to respond because currently the South and Hermitage precincts cover calls in this area.
Data from Metro Police reveals how many calls for service each precinct gets.
If you can combine precincts and calls, in 2020 South and Hermitage received a little over 67,000 calls for service.
In 2021, that number went up to a little over 68,000.
“I can’t imagine the stress that these officers are dealing with daily," Councilwoman Vercher said.
She thinks there's just a lot of miscommunications happening around the project. She said community members don't deserve it.
"It seems a little absurd that we are the fastest growing and the largest area in the city and we don’t have public services out here. We have to wait and we have to wait and we have to wait. Admittedly, the city knows we have an issue as it relates to response times out here in our area," Vercher said.
In her eyes, it’s not a priority for some people.
"We're taxpayers out here. We should receive the same level of consideration and services as any other area. It’s not too much. We’re just asking for a simple service and that’s public safety," Vercher said.
NewsChannel 5 reached out to Mayor Cooper's office for comment.
“Mayor Cooper is committed to opening the ninth precinct in Antioch. The project is in design stages as planned, and on-track for a spring 2023 groundbreaking," a spokesperson in the mayor's office said.
Lopez's family is asking the community for prayers at this time as they deal with this tragic loss.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call police.
