A Davidson County judge pushed a lawsuit against Metro government one step closer to seeing a jury. The lawsuit is from the family of Waffle House shooting victim 23-year-old Akilah Dasilva. The lawsuit alleges the city is responsible for negligence by the emergency dispatchers that sent police to the wrong Waffle House on the morning of the massacre April 22, 2019.

Dispatch recordings validate that a dispatcher inaccurately reported the address as 816 Murfreesboro Pike, a Waffle House in Hermitage. Meanwhile, the shooting was going on at 3571 Murfreesboro Pike in Antioch.

The lawsuit reads, “ECC employees dispatched the emergency response to a location nearly nine miles away and in a different precinct in contravention of their training and as a result of their gross negligence and extreme recklessness.”

As a matter of policy, the city does not comment on ongoing lawsuits, but civil attorney Colin Calhoun opined that the city could be held liable despite the strong shield laws that protect municipalities.