Joshaun Collier, a 32-year-old Black man, was caught in a burst of gunfire late on the night of Saturday, October 6, 2012, in Nashville, Tennessee. Police were dispatched to 2615 Jefferson Street after reports of shots fired, but when officers arrived the parking lot behind a business known as Rodney’s Place was empty, leaving only the physical traces of what had just happened—evidence that a shooting had occurred moments earlier.
Collier had been shot multiple times, and instead of waiting for an ambulance at a scene that had already gone quiet, he was driven to the emergency room by his girlfriend, who had been with him when the shots rang out. The night’s violence followed him from that vacant lot to the hospital, where the struggle to save him unfolded out of public view.
In the days that followed, his death rippled through family and friends who knew him by the nickname “J-Rock.” His obituary placed his passing on Wednesday, October 10, 2012, and later thanked the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Trauma Team, reflecting the gravity of his injuries and the effort that went into trying to keep him alive.
No arrests or publicly identified suspects are described in the official cold-case summary, and the case has been presented as an unresolved homicide still seeking answers. The Nashville Cold Case Homicide Unit continues to ask the public for information, directing tips to its investigators and noting that information can also be provided anonymously through the police department’s Crime Stoppers Division.
