Good Guy with a Gun #177: Nashville, TN
He broke the kitchen window and started climbing in. The homeowner had already told him he had a gun. “Meth,” I said. “Or something.” | Original incident: April 20, 2024
These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is significantly updated from the calendar version.
Imagine waking up to a man banging on your windows at six in the morning. That’s what happened on Shreeve Lane to a homeowner who quickly jumped into action.
That’s the way WSMV 4 started their coverage of this incident. I love it when the news personalizes these stories. But let’s continue in our own words:
The homeowner got his gun and confronted the man, repeatedly telling him to leave and warning him that he’d shoot.
But the man, stupidly, didn’t listen. He broke the kitchen window and started to climb into the home.
This is the point at which Mrs. Good Guy with a Gun scoffs. “The homeowner’s telling him that he has a gun and will shoot him. But he breaks a window anyway…”
“Stupid,” I say. “The homeowner tells him he’s got a gun. Does he think the homeowner won’t use it?”
“Stupider than that,” she says, her eyes narrowing with the displeasure of being interrupted. “It’s a kitchen window. He’s going to have to climb up into it to get into the house. With the homeowner there. With a gun. What’s he thinking?”
“Meth,” I say. “Or something.”
This isn’t the first time we’ve had this conversation. It’s not even unusual for people to be this stupid.
Anyway, meth-or-something carried the stupid man through the point of attempting to climb in the window, at which point the homeowner opened fire and hit him once in the arm.
The man dropped a revolver near the kitchen sink and ran away. Police found him and got him to the hospital for a non-critical wound.
This incident caused consternation among residents there. “I’m leery that, you know, we have to have guns just to have peace in our neighborhood or our homes,” one woman said. “That’s the last thing you really want to have to deal with.”
The DA’s office determined that the homeowner was acting in self-defense, and no charges were expected.
The perpetrator
The stupid intruder was Anton Cosby, age 32.
He had a rap sheet. Bear with me, because I promise I have a point.
He was charged with misdemeanor “no drivers license” in 2011 at age almost-20, as well as felony vandalism and reckless endangerment three years later, and received charges for domestic assault, vandalism under $1,000, and resisting arrest in January of 2024 — just three months before the current incident.
He faced multiple additional charges after being released from the hospital: aggravated burglary, a felony; employing a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony with the intent to cause or allow bodily injury, a felony; vandalism from $2,500 to $10,000, a felony; and using a weapon under the influence (though we don’t know of what), a misdemeanor.
Did your eyes glaze over reading that? Just too many charges to think about? Here’s the killer fact: If you look at the court record, across all of those charges, only one has a disposition of “guilty.” The others are all either “dismissed” or “retired” (which I think means they can be reopened) with a status of “closed.”
Did he get jail time? Yes, four years — but that’s marked “suspended.” Other than that, he received four years of probation, restitution of $2,500, and $735 in court costs. Yes, for all that.
Someone please tell me I’m wrong.
Finally, go look at the records with an offense date of 1/18/2026. Just ~21 months later, he was charged with aggravated criminal trespass and resisting arrest. This case is still open, but I have to ask: Are they going to dismiss that as well?
Sources
Primary
Cosby’s court record, as previously linked. (If this ever fails, its current state is permanently housed at archive.org.)
Local news
I liked WMSV 4’s coverage because, as noted at the beginning, they tried to humanize the event. Their first piece by Chuck Morris is about the shooting, and the second is Dryden Quigley’s discussion with a woman who lives up that same hill.
WKRN 2 also covered the incident. You can click through for their text or watch the videos here.
National coverage
The Charlotte Observer gave this story a very good write-up, as did the New York Post.
Specialist coverage
Doug Howlett covered this for The Truth About Guns.
So this happened in April 2024 and he was still running around the streets in January 2026 to commit more crimes? And in TN no less; I thought we would do better about putting people behind bars than that. Of course, if he's committing crimes in Nashville, it's a pretty blue city . . .