Ashland City Shooting

[Rbtama101]

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A fellow worker of mine was in the physical therapy office watching out the large window and saw the entire instance except when they ran into Don Ponchos. The gun used was a .32 caliber.

This is the eyewitness account from my friend, and other statements he heard while talking to the cops from the patrons in the restaurant. We will call my friend "Ted".

Ted calls me at work to inform me that he just witnessed a fight/shooting right next to his parked truck in the physical therapy parking lot in the plaza next to the Wal-Mart in Ashland City. The physical therapy office has a huge window facing the parking lot. Ted was inside waiting to be called in for his appointment when he hears a loud commotion outside. He looks out the window and sees two men standing next to his truck in the parking lot yelling at each other loudly. Thinking about his truck, Ted gets up and approaches the window and watches to make sure neither one of them touches his truck. After a few seconds of them yelling, Ryan Dickens (who is a really big, bulky man going over 250 easily) swings and punches Shannon Paul (a very small, short man going around 155). Paul is knocked silly and struggles to get back on his feet while pulling his gun out. Dickens begins to charge Paul and Paul shoots Dickens twice, having little to no effect on him. A wrestling match ensues on the ground and Paul manages to escape Dickens, minus his own gun. Paul staggering at half run speed heads to Don Ponchos restaurant. Dickens gets up, bleeding like a stuck pig and follows not far behind Paul towards the mexican restaurant. This is when Ted loses sight of the two of them. Meanwhile the physical therapy office workers lock the door to the office and call 911 to report the incident.

According to Ted, this information he has comes from talking to the other witnesses in the restaurant.

Paul enters the restaurant and is hiding under and around tables when Dickens enters Don Ponchos still bleeding like crazy. Dickens is yelling at the top of his lunges " WHERE IS HE!! I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!!". Dickens begins searching the restaurant and finds Paul and begins to chase him around the restaurant. Paul heads to the door to go back outside and gets cornered by Dickens who gets him on the ground with his back against the wall and is standing over Paul with his own gun pointed at him. At this point, Dickens states that “You’re going to die” and shoots him in the chest, twice, with Paul’s own gun. Dickens then leaves the restaurant and drops the gun in the parking lot and walks over to the physical therapy office and tries to get in. My friend Ted is standing at the door and yells through it to inform Dickens that the door is locked and 911 has been called and to wait outside. Ted said that Dickens is bleeding all over the place, and goes back to Don Ponchos and sits on a chair outside the restaurant. That’s when the cops and EMT’s show up and take over. Ted said that Paul laid there and was alive for about 4 minutes, but had died about the same time when the cops and medics showed up.

I would have to say that Dickens is going to jail for a looooong time. Of course though, this is Cheatham County, it’s all about who you know.

My thought is, Dickens size is a weapon and Paul was warranted to fear for his life or bodily injury, so Paul shooting Dickens after getting his clock cleaned was ok. Dickens hunting Paul down and standing over him execution style does not bode well for him.

Lessons learned here: Don’t carry anything smaller than a .45; if you’re going to pull your gun, shoot until it goes “click” or until the threat has been neutralized; never get within wrestling distance with an opponent, especially one who’s twice your size; never run down a target and tell him he’s about to die before shooting him (ESPECIALLY in a restaurant full of witnesses).

Nice to see the media leave out all sorts of details too. I’m sure they will twist this around and be all about the CCW guy losing his weapon and getting shot by his own gun instead of the guy that shot him chasing him down and executing him.

[ProguninTN]

May I suggest weapon retention as a lesson to be learned ?