James Edward Shearon, a 61-year-old White man from Nashville, Tennessee, was killed in the early hours of January 18, 2008, after the back door of his home on Watts Terrace was forced open around 3:00 a.m. He had been asleep in bed with his wife when the noise jolted him awake, and he stepped out to see what was happening inside the house.
In the hallway, the intruders confronted him at close range and demanded, “Where’s the safe?”
The moment carried the sharp edge of a targeted break-in—someone had come expecting valuables, and they were willing to use violence to get them. Before he could retreat or the household could fully grasp what was unfolding, he was shot multiple times. The attackers fled, leaving behind a stunned home and a family thrown instantly into the kind of silence that follows sudden, irreversible loss.
Publicly available case information continues to frame the killing as an open, unsolved homicide: the incident remains listed as a cold case, and the published summary does not identify any named suspect, arrest, or prosecution connected to the shooting. Investigators have urged anyone with information—no matter how small it may seem—to contact the Metro Nashville Police Department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit or provide tips through Crime Stoppers.
Away from the violence that ended his life, his obituary remembered a steady routine and a long working history, noting he spent 41 years employed with E Z Silk Screen Printing. He was survived by his wife, Paula T. Shearon, along with children and extended family who were left to navigate both grief and the lingering unanswered question of who came through that door looking for a safe and why they chose to kill when they didn’t find what they wanted.
