“I got lucky getting out of there”: Hostage in Clarksville shootout thankful to be alive
By Michael Warrick
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CLARKSVILLE, Tennessee (WSMV) — The man taken hostage by two brothers during a standoff with Clarksville Police is out of the hospital after being shot several times.
That man spoke to WSMV4 under the condition we protect his identity.
He was held hostage in an apartment during a 12-hour standoff between Clarksville Police and brothers Leonard and Brandon Green, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI). The brothers, who were wanted by police for an alleged burglary, were shot and killed in a shootout when police entered the apartment.
Four Clarksville officers were also shot, and are expected to survive, the TBI said.
The hostage, who sustained six gunshot wounds and was also grazed by a bullet in the head, said he wasn’t sure if he would make it out alive.
“Am I really going to die tonight or what,” the hostage asked. “Things happened so fast. I see it on TV all the time and that was me. There’s a lot of things racing through your mind. Best thing to do is just sit there and try to be positive and cooperate.”
The man said he was a longtime friend of one of the brothers, Brandon Green. He never anticipated the night to go the way it did.
“It just went downhill,” he said. “All night was just a long night that didn’t have to be that long. And I just got lucky getting up out of there.”
In the exchange of gunfire, the hostage said he was shot three times in his arm, and twice in each leg. He was also shot in the stomach.
“I’m doing alright, I’m just thankful I’m still here,” he said. “It could’ve been a lot worse. I mean, I’m here, that’s all I can say.”
The TBI’s investigation into the incident remains active, as they work to determine what led up to the incident and whether the officers’ actions were justified. For the man taken hostage, he can only describe the night as traumatic, considering he lost a friend.
”They did what they did, [the brothers] just felt like they had no other options,” the hostage said. “Just to keep themselves alive, they just knew they didn’t want to go back to prison. They didn’t want to go back so they were gonna bang it out.”
Clarksville Police have not identified the officers involved, but they are expected to survive.
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