North Nashville businesses raided by police after 400+ calls

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – People in North Nashville said they feel safer after two businesses were raided by Metro Nashville police on Monday morning.

Officers arrested three people on multiple charges and shut down the Star Market after a judge ruled the business had become a public nuisance.

Police have been called to the Buchanan Street store 424 times since 2019 for incidents including homicides, shootings, robberies and aggravated assaults, according to MNPD. Officers have also done more than 1,000 extra patrols in the area over that time.

Chris Helton owns the liquor store right next door to the Star Market and said he was very relieved to see a fence around his neighboring business when he opened for the week. A stream of customers coming in to buy their bottles kept telling him how relieved they were about the court-ordered closure.

“It’s going to cut down on a lot of the craziness that goes on because there was stuff that was going on next door that was affecting me,” Helton said. “People would hang out on their side, and they wouldn’t make them move.”

Helton hired his own private security to protect the liquor store’s side of the parking lot. Even after a 2022 meeting with Metro police about the issues around businesses in the area, Helton said the Star Market owners added new video gambling machines that only increased the number of people gathering outside the store.

“You should be able to come here and not fear for anything,” Helton said. “This is going to take a lot of stress off of (security and police) to where they don’t have to come out here and police this area as much.”

Another search warrant was executed on Monday morning at F&B Mart on Clarksville Pike which is owned by the same men who operate Star Market, police said. Officers said the men were taking stolen items and reselling them as part of a money laundering operation, leading to multiple other charges.

Pastor Sam Kirk runs a youth organization near the Bordeaux Area store and said he’s glad police are taking steps to protect the area.

“Sometimes people take a choice to try to become successful and make things work,” Kirk said. “If you are going to do it through an illegal way, eventually the crime is going to reveal what you are doing. It’s unfortunate that today what happened here on our corner. It’s just unfortunate that some of the crime definitely negatively impact our community.”

While F&B Mart was allowed to reopen once the search was complete, Star Market will remain closed under the state’s public nuisance law at least through a court hearing scheduled for Thursday morning.

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