Suspect arrested in drive-by shooting at Pastor Greg Locke’s home

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Wednesday, December 11, 2024

The Wilson County Sheriff's Office in Tennessee has arrested a 20-year-old man in connection with the drive-by shooting on the home of controversial Pastor Greg Locke that forced him and his family to relocate in September.

"On December 4, 2024, detectives with the Wilson County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division, with assistance from the Metro Nashville Police Department, executed a search warrant at 8234B Terry Lane, Hermitage, TN, in reference to the shooting that occurred on September 3, 2024, at 1729 Chandler Road, Mt. Juliet, TN," authorities announced on Dec. 5.

During the execution of the search warrant, police said they arrested Tyler Poole, 20, of Hermitage, and he was taken in custody on an outstanding indictment. He was charged with aggravated assault, four counts of reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, and two counts of vandalism, all stemming from the shooting at Locke's former residence that resulted in no injuries. Poole is currently being held at the Wilson County Jail on a $50,000 bond.

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Wilson County Sheriff's Office Capt. Scott Moore told The Tennessean that when deputies responded to Locke's home at around 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 3, they found 30 to 40 shell casings around the house, the garage and a vehicle.

Following the shooting, Locke said he was advised by investigators not to return to the home.

"We have not been allowed to be back at our house since then, and other than packing stuff up, we're not going back anyhow," Locke told his congregation in September. "They told us that they fear retaliation at this moment."

Locke, who leads the Global Vision Bible Church, which was recently relocated from Mt. Juliet to Lebanon, has previously stated that he believes the Lord slowed his family down while they were driving home from Pigeon Forge on the night of the shooting.

When they returned home, he said they initially thought someone had broken beer bottles on the property. As he and his wife continued inspecting the property, it dawned on them that their home had been attacked.

"All of a sudden I began to realize it (bullets)went through the wall and the headboard and Destiny's room, and you know, riddle the truck up and the garage, and we're talking about from the bottom of the driveway all the way up through the back of the truck, the middle of the truck, out the front of the truck, through the garage door, all the way out the back of the garage, into the fence, at the very back of the property," he said. "So we're not talking about a Daisy BB gun."

Locke said he armed himself with an AR-15 along with a handgun and began searching his property as his wife, Tai, frantically called the police.

"I'm running around the house like a madman with an AR in my hand and a 9mm in my back pocket, not knowing what's going on," he said. "And, by the way, you can criticize that all you want to, but I'm here to tell you one day, the government's not going to protect you, and the police aren't going to show up in time, and you better know how to protect your family, you hear me?"