A Nashville family is grieving after a 12-year-old boy was shot and killed during a confrontation in downtown Nashville on Sunday night. Damarion Morehead died after being shot in the head near Representative John Lewis Way and Deaderick Street, in what police describe as a fight that escalated into gunfire.
Metro Police have arrested and charged 24-year-old Devin Orr with criminal homicide in connection with the shooting. According to investigators, the confrontation began as an agreed-upon fight that spiraled out of control.
Police say footage shows a group of people, including Morehead, surrounding Orr and striking him with punches and kicks to the head.
Orr then pulled out a handgun and fired twice as the group scattered, according to authorities. One round struck Morehead in the head. Police say Orr later led officers to the weapon, which he had thrown into a sewer drain on Charlotte Pike.
A Family Searching for Answers
Morehead’s great-grandmother, Nancy Givans, recalled the last conversation she had with him, saying he told her he loved her and appreciated how she had taken care of him.
She described him as a boy who loved football and attended Rose Park Middle School, where he hoped the sport could eventually open doors to college.
Givans questioned why a grown man would have been near a group of children in the first place and why he was carrying a gun.
Morehead’s great aunt, Nikki Haddox, said the boy was not a bad kid but acknowledged that bad decisions on all sides contributed to the tragedy. She asked the public to give the family space to grieve while the legal process moves forward.
Kolt Peavey, who coached Morehead in football at Rose Park Middle School, said he learned of the shooting late Sunday night through a call from a teammate’s father.
He described Morehead as a joyful, well-liked teammate who had a bright future ahead of him on the field. Peavey said the loss has shaken the entire Rose Park community, including the football team and the boys he mentors.
He suggested Morehead had simply fallen in with the wrong crowd and said more resources and supervised activities for kids during the summer could help prevent similar tragedies.
Legal Questions Around Self-Defense
The case has also raised questions about how prosecutors will pursue charges against Orr. Nashville attorney David Raybin said the situation is not straightforward, noting that Orr could reasonably argue he fired in self-defense after being beaten by several people at once.
Raybin explained that Tennessee law evaluates self-defense from the shooter’s own perspective, asking whether he genuinely believed he faced death or serious injury, rather than from a strictly objective standard.
Raybin said the burden falls on prosecutors to disprove a self-defense claim, and he suggested that grainy surveillance footage may not be enough to settle the matter conclusively.
He also noted that while Orr faces a criminal homicide charge, the case could ultimately be argued down to manslaughter rather than murder, given the circumstances of the attack against him.
As the legal process unfolds, community advocates say they plan to push for early education programs in Nashville schools focused on preventing violence, bullying, and gun-related conflicts among young people.
For now, Morehead’s family says they are simply trying to process a loss they never expected to face.
