Murfreesboro Police responded to a gunshot, which fired from an apartment into a neighboring house, on Courtland Street on Sunday at approximately 6:08 a.m.
Upon arrival, an officer spoke with one of the victims who said that a bullet had been shot through her bathroom wall. She stated that she was asleep, and she heard a loud boom. She looked downstairs and found that a bullet hole that came from the next door apartment was in her wall. The bullet had shattered some glass figurines in the house before stopping when it reached the countertop. The victim stated that three adults, five children and a one-year-old were present in the house when the bullet was fired. The victim also stated to the police that she could hear someone running up and down stairs in the apartment next door.
Two officers walked to the next door apartment and knocked on the door. A man, later identified as Germaine Dunlap, opened the door. He was breathing heavily and had sweat beads forming on his forehead. Dunlap stated that he was asleep at the time of the incident and did not hear anything. Dunlap invited the officers inside the building, and one of the officers stated that a bullet was fired from Dunlap’s apartment into the house next door. Dunlap, his girlfriend and their two kids were inside of the apartment at the time of the incident.
The police began to search the apartment, and they looked in the lower bathroom of the apartment. According to the report, the officer thought that the wall of the bathroom looked normal — at first. Another officer arrived on the scene and, upon closer inspection, it was found that there was a hole that was patched up with a fresh coat of paint covering it. Dunlap stated to his police that his “homeboy” did fire a gun in his apartment, but he took the gun with him when he left. Then, Dunlap stated that the “homeboy” called a friend from Campus Villa Apartments to meet him, and he handed off the gun. Dunlap gave the police consent to search his apartment. After almost three hours of searching the apartment, the police found wet paint on top of a paint can, electronic scales, grinders, two small bags of marijuana and a glass jar with a marijuana shake inside of it. Dunlap then confessed to the officers that he was a convicted felon and that he was sitting on the toilet in the bathroom when the gun was fired. He was playing with the pistol trigger while on the toilet and accidentally shot a hole in the wall. He then fixed the hole before the officers arrived.
Dunlap stated to the police, “I gave ya’ll consent to search. Why won’t any of ya’ll believe me? The gun is not here.”
Dunlap was then placed under arrest for reckless endangerment, and his girlfriend was placed under arrest for a violation of her parole. Dunlap’s girlfriend also gave verbal consent to look for the gun. Officers searched every vent and crevice in the apartment using a specialized camera, but they did not find the gun, according to the report. One of the officers looked inside the couch where Dunlap was seated, and he found a hole and a pistol clip. Officers then pulled back the black mesh in the couch and found a semi-automatic pistol with a live round in the chamber. Once it was entered into the National Crime Infomation Center database, it came back as stolen.
The mother of Dunlap’s girlfriend walked into the apartment right as the officer had found the gun inside of the couch. She stated, “This apartment reeks of marijuana. He is not supposed to be smoking. My grandson has asthma.” She took custody of her grandchildren after Dunlap was arrested.
Dunlap was then transported to the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office and was booked for drug possession charges, reckless endangerment, possession of a stolen weapon and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
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