Jason William Sexton was acting angry and erratic and the woman in the back seat of his car was calling for help in the moments that led up to the police shooting that left Sexton dead, a witness told The Tennessean.
The witness, who did not want to be named, said he saw Sextonholding a sword when a Metro Police SWAT officer fatally shot him
. The witness had been standing on his back porch when he heard a helicopter overhead."He was pretty angry and seemed very erratic, and ended up having a hostage in the car with him that he was not going to let go," said the witness, who provided the footage he took of the incident to The Tennessean. "I think he had like a psychotic break or something. It didn't seem drug-induced at all."
"(The hostage) was
in the back seat and rolled down the window, and at one point, was signaling for help," the bystander said.
Sexton, 54, was shot and killed as he held a sword outside his Hyundai on Cheshire Drive in Nashville on Aug. 29, police said. SWAT Officer Joshua Baney, who fired the fatal shot, was decommissioned in the hours after the shooting, meaning he has lost all his police authority.
Sexton was shot after he threatened a store clerk who had confronted him about paying for a cup of coffee, police said in a news release.
The woman in the back seat of the car, 26, told police she'd been held captive by Sexton after the shooting, the Metro Nashville Police Department has said. Sexton himself also verbally stated it was a hostage situation, according to the witness.
Sexton left dozens of Instagram posts of his last movements. They include clips of him arguing with gas station store attendants, driving fast to the thumping beat of music, threatening violence and posting a running racist monologue.
"The world is cruel and unforgiving," he says into the camera in one clip. "So welcome to my reality. Everybody dies."
Body cam footage of the incident shows Baney stepping out of a silver RAM truck, raising his rifle, and shooting Sexton three times.
In footage provided to The Tennessean by the bystander, a silver RAM truck rolls up to Sexton's car. Baney's face is not seen in the video, but someone wearing military-style boots can be seen exiting the truck and walking towards Sexton. The unidentified person then stands still before three shots ring out. Sexton collapses out of view.
"That truck was parked there for a minute. It's in the video, but it was not that aggressive at all," the bystander said. "They were out there for like over an hour trying to get the guy to calm down, and (Sexton) just wasn't having it."
In one of the videos he posted to social media, Sexton said he had been to jail 25 times in 18 years.
Davidson County Court records show he has been arrested several times on drug charges, tampering with evidence and resisting arrest. There are other charges for assault, disorderly conduct, burglary and domestic violence.
Most recently, on July 22, 2026, he was charged with assault and released on a $2,000 bond.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will conduct the probe on behalf of District Attorney General Glenn Funk, Aaron said, and the MNPD will conduct a "separate but parallel" administrative investigation.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Bystander video shows moments leading up to fatal police shooting | Exclusive
