Nika Holbert: what we know so far

A young Black woman was fatally shot, and a police officer seriously injured after a traffic stop went wrong last week in Nashville.

Footage of the Friday morning encounter between White Nashville Police Officer Josh Baker and Nika N. Holbert, 31, who is Black, shows the cop deploying his Taser on the woman while ordering her to get out of a car.

Baker, a 14-year veteran of the Metropolitan Nashville Police, then tries to take the woman into custody. But, as he does so, Holbert screams and reaches for a handgun, opening fire on the officer, who shoots back and fatally wounds her.

“Ma’am, you’re about to get tased,” Baker tells Holbert as she begins to run away as the officer tries to put her in handcuffs, according to the video. “Get down! Get down on the ground!”

Holbert ignores the officer’s instructions and gets back into the car, where she is hit with the taser. She then screams for help while struggling with Baker as she sits in the driver’s seat and appears to reach for a weapon, the footage shows.

“Ma’am, put the gun down!” Baker says. “Put the gun down!”

Baker falls to the ground after being shot and calls for backup, telling a dispatcher “shots fired” as Holbert drives off, the clip shows.

Holbert was later pronounced dead at a hospital, police said.

Baker, who was hit beneath his bullet-resistant vest, was in stable condition after undergoing surgery, police spokesman Don Aaron said.

Holbert was pulled over after Baker noticed that the registered owner of the Chevrolet Camaro she was driving was wanted on several drug warrants. She was alone at the time.

After the shooting, Holbert tossed a semi-automatic pistol into the parking lot, where it was later recovered, Aaron said.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and prosecutors from the Davidson County District Attorney’s Office are reviewing the fatal shooting, Aaron said.

As the community began to come to terms with the tragedy, members of Holbert’s devastated family acknowledged that she had a troubled upbringing and very few opportunities to find a better way of life according to a report in the Tennessean.