The Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A former police officer was shot and killed Wednesday after being confronted as a suspect in two area bank robberies, authorities said.
Brian Schweitzer, who resigned from the Metro Nashville police in March after another run-in with the law, was approached by an off-duty police officer who was guarding a Nashville bank.
Schweitzer, 34, was shot in the confrontation that followed, police said.
He is suspected of robbing banks in Smyrna and Nashville on Wednesday morning before appearing at the U.S. Courthouse Credit Union in Nashville.
Metro Police officer Shawn Taylor was working as a security guard at the credit union. Taylor saw that Schweitzer matched the description of a suspect in the two prior bank robberies, and approached him.
Schweitzer tried to get away in his car, and Taylor shot him when it appeared that the former officer was reaching for a gun.
Taylor fired four shots at Schweitzer inside the car, police said. Schweitzer was pronounced dead at the scene.
A loaded .40 caliber gun was found in Schweitzer’s right front pocket. Cash from the two bank robberies was in the front seat of the car, police said.
Schweitzer had been a Nashville police officer for two years before he was arrested in March for allegedly embezzling money from an apartment complex managed by his wife.
He had worked for LaVergne Police Department before joining the Nashville force in 2002.
Taylor, an eight-year police veteran, is the same officer who arrested Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair for drunken driving in May 2003. The charges against McNair were eventually dropped by prosecutors, and Taylor was suspended for 15 days for violating department policy.
A disciplinary hearing last December determined Taylor violated the department’s pre-arrest screening policy by improperly telling McNair he would allow him to leave if his breath-alcohol level registered below a certain number.
Taylor also violated policy by having copies made of videotapes, most of which documented DUI cases - including McNair’s, storing those tapes at home and showing at least one of them to his wife.
Taylor is on administrative assignment while Wednesday’s shooting is investigated.
The FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force suspects Schweitzer is responsible for at least five bank robberies in the Nashville area since the summer.