Metropolitan Nashville Police Officer Decommissioned After Police Shooting Comments

Anthony Venable was decommissioned for writing, “Yeah. I would have done 5,” on Facebook, referencing the fatal shooting of Philando Castile in Minnesota, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said.

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July 7, 2016

Chief Steve Anderson this afternoon directed that Hermitage Precinct midnight shift Officer Anthony Venable be immediately decommissioned pending the results of an internal investigation into a post he made from his personal Facebook account referencing the police-involved shooting in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.

Hermitage Precinct supervisors became aware of the post at 3 p.m., in which Venable, during a Facebook conversation, wrote, “Yeah. I would have done 5,” an apparent reference to the number of shots in the Minnesota case. When questioned by a supervisor late this afternoon, Venable acknowledged the post, but said it was a form of sarcasm directed at a person with whom he was electronically conversing on Facebook.

The Office of Professional Accountability has begun an investigation into the specific posting and Venable’s Facebook conversation.

“The police department is treating this matter very seriously and took immediate action, regardless of what he claims the context to have been,” Chief Anderson said.

Venable has been with the police department for eight years.