Federal agents shot and killed two people in Nashville during an investigation into the illegal sale of firearms.
Those killed have not yet been identified.
Davidson County District Attorney Glen Funk requested the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation handle the investigation into the shooting by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
This is what we know about the case so far.
Today, ATF was conducting an enforcement action related to violations of federal firearms laws in Nashville, Tennessee. During the operation, ATF agents were fired upon. The shooting investigation is underway led by @TBinvestigations. The scene is safe and there is no danger to… pic.twitter.com/tEDGA8jLQJ
— ATF Nashville (@ATFNashville) August 6, 2026
What led to the shooting?
Agents with the ATF were at a storage unit
facility off Landers Avenue near Thompson Lane before 1 p.m. Aug. 6 to investigate the illegal sale of guns, the TBI said in a statement.
"During the operation, the ATF Special Response Team encountered two individuals," TBI said. "Gunfire was exchanged during the encounter, resulting in the two individuals being struck."
Metro Nashville Police Officers were "on the periphery of this operation," but were not directly involved in the agent's actions, department spokesperson Don Aaron said.
"ATF agents in one instance came under fire. That fire was returned by federal agents," Aaron said. "In another instance, almost immediately thereafter, a weapon, a gun, was directed by another individual at an ATF agent. The person directing that gun also came under fire."
It's unclear if the second person shot fired.
One person died at the scene. The other was taken to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead there.
No ATF agents were injured in the exchange of gunfire.
Second fatal shooting by federal agents in 16 months
The shooting by ATF agents come less than a year and a half after agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration opened fire outside a Midtown hotel killing one man.
That shooting happened just after 6 a.m. April 16, 2025 in the 100 block of 29th Avenue North, near the Fairfiled Inn and Suites. Deshawn Patrick Jones, 36, died at a nearby hospital.
Federal and state agents with the TBI were on scene as part of a major drug operation, they said after the shooting. Two other people were arrested during the raid.
The Nashville Police Department's cold case unit investigated that fatal law enforcement shooting.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What we know about the ATF shooting that killed two in Nashville
