Last November a beautiful Tennessee college student was fatally shot in the head by a man who was previously released for ‘incompetence to stand trial’ in connection to another shooting – and the shooting suspect was just charged with felony murder and tampering with evidence four months later.
18-year-old Belmont University student Jillian Ludwig was fatally struck by a stray bullet in November while walking on a track in Edgehill Memorial Gardens Park, Nashville Police said.
The killer, Shaquille Taylor, 29, was supposed to be in court that week for a different previous charge but he never showed up.
Police said Taylor fired a gun from a public housing unit near the park. The bullet missed a car which was the intended target and instead struck Jillian Ludwig.
Ludwig was rushed to a nearby hospital in extremely critical condition and died from her injuries a day later.
Shaquille Taylor is “jailed in lieu of $280,000 bond on charges of aggravated assault and evidence tampering for Tuesday afternoon’s gunfire,” Nashville Police said last year.
A grand jury finally returned a felony murder indictment in the death of 18-year-old Jillian Ludwig and an additional charge of tampering with evidence on March 6.
WZTV reported:
A grand jury has served indictments in the death of 18-year-old college student Jillian Ludwig who was shot in the head at a park near her campus in November.
The Belmont University student was walking on the track in Edgehill Community Memorial Gardens Park when she was shot in the head by a stray bullet. She was transported to Vanderbilt Hospital where she died from her injuries in November 2023.
Suspect Shaquille Taylor was originally charged with firing a gun. He is now facing one count of felony murder and an indictment for tampering with evidence.
According to NBC News, Shaquille Taylor had a long rap sheet and had been criminally charged several times.
In 2021 Shaquille Taylor and another suspect shot at a woman while she was in her car with her two children. The charges were dismissed this year after Taylor was found incompetent to stand trial due to testimony by court-appointed doctors.
“Authorities said he and another man allegedly shot at a woman while she was driving with her two children. At least two bullets hit the vehicle. The charges were ultimately dismissed earlier this year and Taylor was released after court-appointed doctors testified that he was incompetent to stand trial. Under federal and state law, mentally incompetent defendants cannot be prosecuted.” the outlet reported.
The court order claimed Taylor suffered a brain infection at birth after a bout of pneumonia and that “he continues to function at a kindergarten level,” NBC News said.
“Criminal Court Judge Angelita Blackshear Dalton wrote that because Taylor did not meet the criteria to be involuntarily committed, the court had “reached the limit of its authority.”” the outlet said.
Jillian’s family is suffering unimaginable grief after a career criminal murdered her.
“Jillian was a creative, compassionate, fearless young woman. She was thriving in her freshman year of college and on the cusp of so many successes. She was senselessly robbed of those opportunities and we will miss her dearly every day forever,” Ludwig’s family said.
