On the morning of July 30, 2023, 10-year-old Lathan Javelle Sweatt was fatally shot inside his family’s home on Meadowlake Terrace in Nashville’s Hermitage Precinct. Lathan, just days shy of his eleventh birthday, and two brothers had been home while their parents ran errands. The boys went upstairs to play a computer game; investigators say a 14-year-old stepbrother retrieved a nine-millimeter semi-automatic pistol stored at the top of a closet, and the firearm discharged, the bullet striking Lathan in the head. A 911 call was placed at 10:40 a.m., and Lathan was taken to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, where he died shortly after arrival. Youth Services detectives with the Metro Nashville Police Department described the shooting as believed to be accidental and focused on how the teen gained access to the unsecured gun. Lathan was remembered as an AB Honor Student who loved the outdoors, board games, basketball, and video games; his family described him as smart with a bright, exciting personality.

Did anyone in the Hermitage area see or have information about how that firearm was stored in the home?