WARREN COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — More than four months after a “violent felony crime spree” led to a crash in Warren County that killed two people, officials shared new details about the investigation.
According to a statement released by Chris Stanford, District Attorney General of the 31st Judicial District, on Tuesday, March 4, his office has wrapped up its investigation into “all potential and actual criminal actions that ultimately resulted in the felonious victimization” of approximately 17 people in Rutherford and Warren counties on Oct. 24, 2024. One of those victims was 61-year-old Phyllis Renay Prater, whose death was allegedly caused by the actions of 24-year-old Brandon Thomas James.
Shortly before 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 24, 2024, Stanford said James started a “deadly felonious violent crime spree” in Murfreesboro that ended at the intersection of Nashville Highway and Castle Street in Warren County. The Murfreesboro Police Department (MPD) reportedly responded to James’ address along Warrior Drive due to an emergency call about shots fired in that area, causing property damage.
“The call to dispatch also included a statement from the caller that indicated that a female was likely the victim of an aggravated assault or attempted murder during the shooting by James, nearby and outside his residence, in Murfreesboro,” Stanford explained.
Then, at approximately 3:55 a.m., Stanford said MPD was dispatched to a nearby commercial location on South Church Street for an aggravated robbery/carjacking that took place in the parking lot. James allegedly pulled his semi-automatic handgun on someone — described as the fifth victim in Rutherford County — and stole their pickup truck. As a result, MPD alerted surrounding law enforcement agencies about James’ dangerous felony status and offered a description of the stolen vehicle, which James ended up driving out to Warren County.
Shortly before 6 a.m., a member of the McMinnville Police Department responded to a report of a aggravated robbery/carjacking at a gas station on Beersheba Highway, according to Stanford. Investigators determined James had parked the stolen truck from Rutherford County on the side of the gas station property, almost completely outside of camera range.
“James’s soon-to-be next victim noticed James watching said victim as he pumped gas into his pickup truck. Moments later, James relocated the stolen Rutherford County pickup truck to the gas pump immediately parallel to his next victim’s pickup truck. James can be seen on camera footage casing and scouting his next victim during the entire time the victim filled his truck with fuel,” Stanford described. “Once the victim was finished pumping gas, James had already gained an advantageous position parallel to his next victim and pulled a gun on the victim while demanding possession of this Warren County victim’s pickup truck.”
Stanford said the victim complied with James’ demands and backed away from the vehicle, but he did ask James to give him his cell phone from the cab of the truck, which James did before driving away. The victim told authorities the pickup had faulty brakes.
The district attorney general said James drove from the gas station toward downtown McMinnville, but an alert had already been sent out about the second stolen truck.
According to Stanford, the vehicle approached the area of the Warren County Sheriff’s Department, catching the attention of a sergeant who worked there, so he followed it and confirmed it was the pickup stolen at gunpoint along Beersheba Highway. The sergeant and another deputy activated their lights and stopped the truck.
Since they were “responding to a violent felony in progress,” Stanford said both the sergeant and the deputy got out of their patrol units, drew their service weapons, and ordered James to exit the vehicle, but he ignored their commands and drove away. The sergeant and deputy returned to their vehicles to pursue James, with an officer and two sergeants from the McMinnville Police Department quickly joining in the chase.
Stanford said James sped away on Bobby Ray Memorial Parkway toward Morrison, but he quickly exited the road heading toward Woodbury on Nashville Highway. As he neared the exit ramp, James reportedly stuck his arm out the driver’s side window of the pickup and fired several shots from his 9mm, primarily at the Warren County sergeant and deputy pursuing him in the lead.
Two of James’ shots hit the Warren County sergeant’s service vehicle, with one striking the frame and missing the sergeant’s head by a few inches, and the other hitting the front driver’s side bumper area, per Tuesday’s release. Even though both rounds hit the vehicle, they ricocheted off the frame and didn’t penetrate.
The district attorney general said the Warren County sergeant’s service vehicle was unable to keep up with James, so McMinnville police took over the chase on the exit ramp to Nashville Highway, but James fired another round of shots out the truck window at them.
According to Stanford, the McMinnville sergeant leading the pursuit returned fire with his service weapon, shooting approximately 24 rounds toward James and the stolen pickup as the chase continued from McMinnville toward Woodbury. At least one round fired by the sergeant “struck the quickly moving pickup truck driven erratically in front of him by James,” but James was not hit by any ammo during the exchange of gunfire, based on the release.
“In conclusion, James, with premeditation, attempted to murder five (5) local law enforcement officers on the morning of October 24, 2024,” Stanford stated.
As the pursuit approached the end of the five-lane paved section of Nashville Highway, about a quarter of a mile from the Old Nashville Highway intersection, Stanford said James decided to switch lanes into oncoming traffic.
“Rather than choose to stop or travel with the direction of traffic incoming toward McMinnville, James continued to drive the second stolen truck, in the wrong lane of travel, as he passed approximately five (5) additional victims, as he approached each victim head-on, one-by-one, as James traveled at speeds estimated in excess of 90mph,” the district attorney general explained. “The law enforcement officers pursuing James never changed lanes but rather mirrored James’s direction in the correct lane of travel going outbound from McMinnville toward Woodbury on Nashville Highway. After James had traveled nearly a mile on the wrong side of Nashville Highway at high speeds, while endangering the lives of other innocent third parties, James made another decision that proved fatal.”
Stanford said James quickly turned the truck into the oncoming path of a vehicle occupied by Prater — who was driving eastbound toward McMinnville in the correct lane and under the speed limit — at the intersection of Castle Street and Nashville Highway. James reportedly drove head-on in Prater’s direction at a calculated speed of 79 mph, killing the 61-year-old.
“Mrs. Prater and her loved ones lost it all on October 24, 2024. The other estimated sixteen (16) victims of James’s violent felony spree also lost their property and/or their right to a sense of security on that tragic day. However, none of these victims’ losses were the result of criminal conduct, aside from the criminal conduct and decisions made by Brandon Thomas James,” Stanford wrote.
Within hours of the incident, Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) confirmed James — who was not wearing a seatbelt — had also been fatally injured in the crash. However, no additional details have been released about his death.
Some will undoubtedly question law enforcement’s pursuit of James in this matter and may even tend to lay blame at law enforcement’s feet for the decisions that James made, of his own accord. However, it is clear that law enforcement was merely attempting to stop a dangerous and violent felon, James. He was on a rampage of death, and our law enforcement community acted lawfully and properly under the dangerous circumstances that presented themselves.
I can foresee the argument coming from a few that a law should be enacted that mandates that law enforcement break off pursuit any time a dangerous felon flees in a motor vehicle. However, the unintended consequences of any such law would undoubtedly result in chaos, lawlessness and anarchy because anyone who wanted to commit violent felonies such as robbery, murder, aggravated child abuse, elder abuse, and/or rape, could simply avoid capture and prosecution by fleeing in a motor vehicle. In addition, other innocent victims would certainly face threats of danger by allowing any dangerous suspected felon to flee capture under any such future and ill-conceived law. Clearly, that should not and hopefully will not ever be the state of the law in a ‘law-and-order’ state, such as Tennessee.
Given that the only criminal actor in this matter, Brandon Thomas James (DOB 10/14/2000), is deceased, there is no prosecution that can proceed based on all of the evidence, applicable law, and the requirements of justice. My office stands firm in our commitment of pursuing guilt while protecting innocence, as I believe my office has accomplished in evaluating this matter.
However, I am not at all unsympathetic to the most significant loss experienced by her loved ones and our community’s beloved, Phyllis Prater (formerly ‘Byars’). To the contrary, Mrs. Prater’s loss, and the loss of any innocent life at the hand of a criminal on a violent crime spree, should be treated with the utmost seriousness and introspection by all government officials in a position to effect positive change. If our law enforcement community and/or military are not given the resources to keep us safe in foreseeable dangerous circumstances, our taxpayer dollars are not being well spent. After all, what is the point of any government that fails to fund the resources needed to keep its citizens safe, first and foremost.
As a result of this case, I learned from a family member of Mrs. Prater that there is technology available to law enforcement to track any violent offender that flees in a motor vehicle. A leading company that provides such technology is called Starchase, LLC. This company provides GPS solutions for high-speed pursuit alternatives. My understanding is that this technology essentially allows a laser guided GPS tracker to be launched from the front of an equipped and pursuing law enforcement vehicle, which thereafter attaches to the rear of the fleeing vehicle driven by or occupying any violent felon. Funding and employing this technology locally would allow for speeds to reduce while law enforcement units stealthily coordinated their efforts to surround and secure the vehicle and/or the occupant violent felony suspect(s), using the GPS coordinates provided by use of this technology. However, securing and deploying this advanced safety technology costs significant sums of money and the respective county commissions and boards of mayor and alderman of local jurisdictions will have to decide if the costs are warranted and available given the budget constraints deemed most important to these local elected representatives and their constituents.
I welcome any reforms that focus taxpayer dollars on solutions designed to keep all of our citizens as safe as possible, going forward. After all, what is the point of us, the taxpayers, funding a government that fails to fund reasonable, available and/or necessary safety measures, first and foremost, for its citizens. The Starchase technology is not the only technology needs our local law enforcement agencies experience that continue to go unfunded by local legislatures. Thus, it is my opinion that priorities in spending must be reassessed, and the citizens’ safety prioritized by local government spending, going forward.
In closing, I pray that peace and solidarity will surround our community, and the victims of this violent felony crime spree. Our society is undoubtedly under attack by criminal forces, every day. Split second decisions must be made by law enforcement officials facing deadly force, at an ever-increasing rate, on our streets. The significant stakes of these deadly criminal forces in our society are the lives of our law enforcement guardians and the lives of every citizen that may find themselves in the face of danger from the criminal element, at any given time. I further pray that we will all rally around the Prater and Byars families, as well as all other victims of this senseless crime spree, and may God continue to pour out blessings and comfort all who were so traumatically impacted in our community on October 24, 2024.
Chris Stanford, District Attorney General for the 31st Judicial District
Prater’s BBQ Morrison posted about the deadly crash the day it happened, saying, “The Prater’s Family is heartbroken over the passing of our beloved Phyllis Prater. We ask for your privacy as we grieve and remember Phyllis. Thank you for your support and prayers.”
Even Manchester Mayor Joey Hobbs shared his condolences shortly after the collision: “Prayers for peace and comfort for the Prater family over the tragic loss of Phyllis. We are also thinking of all those affected by the horrific wreck this morning.”
