From left to right: Jillian Ludwig and Shaquille Taylor (Metropolitan Nashville Police Department).
The family of an 18-year-old college student who was killed by a stray bullet while exercising has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the university, the city, and the state of Tennessee, among others.
Jessica and Matt Ludwig, parents of the late Jillian Ludwig, filed the lawsuit earlier this month in Davidson County Circuit Court against Belmont University, the Metro Nashville government, and the state of Tennessee based on claims of wrongful death and conscious pain and suffering.
The complaint claims that their daughter’s murder was only “made possible by the multiple combined acts of negligence and recklessness committed by the Defendants.”
A key component of the wrongful death lawsuit stems from the shooter, 24-year-old Shaquille Taylor, being on the street despite the fact that he had been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon just seven months earlier. However, several doctors found Taylor incompetent to stand trial and he failed to meet the eligibility requirements to be involuntarily committed to a mental health facility, so he was set free.
The tragic incident took place on the afternoon of Nov. 7, 2023, when Jillian went for a jog near Belmont University, known as Edge Hill Community Memorial Gardens Park.
According to the complaint, Ludwig was “not aware that the park was an area known to have high levels of criminal activity” and that the park was “not a safe location” for students. The suit alleges that the university had “assumed the duty of notifying and warning students concerning safe and unsafe areas near campus.”
Ludwig was shot and killed at about 2:24 p.m., allegedly by Taylor, who authorities say was targeting an individual in a moving vehicle when he missed and struck Ludwig in the head.
“Jillian lay bleeding at this location in the Edge Hill Community Memorial Gardens Park, in plain view, in broad day light, for over an hour before she was found by police and provided medical assistance,” the complaint states. “[I]t was not until 3:32 p.m., central time, over an hour and eight minutes after the shooting occurred, that a passerby found Jillian lying in the park bleeding and suffering before emergency medical services were dispatched to transport Jillian to the hospital.”
The family alleges that the police department was negligent in investigating the scene even after knowing that a shooting had taken place, forcing Jillian to suffer and drastically decreasing her chances of being saved.
The family is also holding the state government and multiple employees for Taylor being released from detention.
“Defendants had a duty to Jillian to determine the competency of Taylor to stand trial for charges related to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and/or whether or not Taylor, if he was not competent to stand trial, should be subject to involuntary commitment,” the complaint states. “Defendants failed to properly evaluate Taylor and made inconsistent findings in January 2023, contrary to fact and law which simultaneously found Taylor to be incompetent to stand trial.”
The suit concludes that the defendants should have known the error “in conflicting clinical findings” which determine that a person is incompetent to stand trial but simultaneously “not so incompetent for involuntary commitment.”
Since the shooting, state lawmakers have passed Jillian’s Law, which requires treatment for some violent offenders deemed incompetent to stand trial and prohibits them from purchasing firearms. The law went into effect in July 2024.
Taylor faces felony murder and tampering with evidence charges. His next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 9.
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