Katie Quackenbush Went To Taco Bell After Shooting Homeless Man

NASHVILLE, TN -- Katie Quackenbush, the 27-year-old aspiring alt-country singer/rapper accused of shooting a homeless man on Demonbreun in August, made a proverbial Run For The Border following the encounter, stopping at Taco Bell before returning home.

More details emerged about the early morning encounter between Quackenbush and 54-year-old Gerald Melton emerged during a probable-cause hearing Thursday. As expected, General Sessions Judge Michael Mondelli bound over the attempted murder charge to the grand jury, an outcome Quackenbush's attorney, high-profile Nashville criminal defense lawyer Peter Strianse, expected.

Police say Quackenbush and Melton got in an argument related to the noise and exhaust coming from Quackenbush's SUV in the early hours of August 26. Melton testified that, generally, that was true and didn't deny using racist and sexist language during the confrontation.

"Even if I did say that it's not an excuse to shoot me," he testified, according to The Tennessean.

As the argument escalated, Quackenbush loaded her pistol, got out of the SUV and walked toward Melton. Melton, who was shot twice, said that Quackenbush asked him if he "wanted to die tonight."

Melton admitted that after he was shot, he walked toward Quackenbush and said he "ought to kill" her, but that he did not have a weapon. Quackenbush's friend, who was a passenger in the SUV, testified she never felt threatened by him.

After the shooting, Quackenbush and the friend went to Taco Bell.

Ever since her arrest in mid-September, Quackenbush, through her father, has maintained the shooting was self-defense.

Quackenbush is an alt-country singer and sometime-rapper, according to her social media accounts (some of the photos and the lyrics of the rap song are explicit). She at one time ran a company which provided "promo girls" for extreme sports events.

Quackenbush has twice been arrested for assault in her native Texas. One case in Amarillo, where her father is a defense attorney, was dismissed in 2013 and she was ordered to pay $400 in attorney's fees.

Photo via Metro Nashville Police