Police apprehended a man on the run more than a year after he was charged with child neglect for not securing his loaded gun around his two-year-old son, resulting in the child’s accidental death.

On Wednesday, May 3, undercover detectives arrested Jeffery L. Thorpe, 24, in Nashville following a grand jury indictment charging him with reckless homicide and felony child neglect. He was charged after his toddler, Anthony Thorpe, 2, fatally shot himself on November 1, 2021. Anthony died five days later, on November 6, 2021.

Detective John Grubbs led the investigation, which revealed that Jeffery Thorpe arrived home on the night of November 1 and placed his loaded gun on a bed where the child and his mother were sitting. He then proceeded to take a shower, and the child started playing with the gun, accidentally shooting himself in the head. Jeffery Thorpe and the child’s mother rushed Anthony to a local hospital. While the toddler’s mother opted to stay with the child, Thorpe decided to flee.

Thorpe has been on the run for over a year, but the law finally caught up with him on Wednesday when he was arrested.

On Wednesday, the East Precinct’s Community Field Intelligence Team received information that Thorpe was in the East Nashville area. They spotted him as a passenger in a vehicle that refused to comply with a traffic stop. However, one of the department’s helicopters monitored the car and watched as the fugitive got out. Police took him into custody in Jones Circle after a short foot pursuit.

In addition to reckless homicide and felony child neglect, Thorpe was also charged with aggravated assault against his girlfriend (the child’s mother), theft, resisting arrest, and trespassing.

Thorpe is being held at the Downtown Detention Center.