Nashville Man Pleads Guilty To Drug Distribution & Firearms Charges In Case That Left A Three-Year-Old Child With A Gunshot To The Head

 

Defendant Faces a Mandatory Minimum 16-Year Prison Sentence

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – December 2, 2020 – Kedrick Ross, 27, of Nashville, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to drug distribution and firearms charges, resulting from an 11-count indictment handed down last year, announced U.S. Attorney Don Cochran for the Middle District of Tennessee. 

Ross was initially charged in a criminal complaint on October 2, 2019, and indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2019 and charged with three counts of being a convicted felon in possession of firearms; three counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime; possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute marijuana, methamphetamine and Xanax, within 1,000 feet of an educational institution; possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute marijuana and methamphetamine, within 1,000 feet of a public housing complex; possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine; and two counts of obstruction of justice.

On December 13, 2018, Ross, a convicted felon, was in possession of a stolen Glock .40 caliber handgun, 208 grams of marijuana, and a mixture of methamphetamine near the Watkins College of Art in Nashville.  While out on bond on these state charges, on May 29, 2019, Ross was in possession of a stolen Glock 9mm handgun, a stolen Glock .45 caliber handgun, marijuana and methamphetamine, while in the Cumberland View Public Housing development, and on September 9, 2019, Ross was in possession of a stolen Glock .40 caliber handgun while in possession of methamphetamine, with intent to distribute.  This firearm was determined to have been the same firearm that Ross left unattended at a relative’s house and with which his 3-year- old son shot himself in the head on the same day and was critically injured.  Ross later obstructed justice during the investigation of this incident by attempting to persuade his cousin to falsely claim that this firearm belonged to the cousin’s deceased husband. 

Ross faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 16 years and up to life in prison when he is sentenced on April 23, 2021.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives and the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department Youth Services Division.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Sunny A.M. Koshy is prosecuting the case.