CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – As Clarksville Police engaged in an 11-hour standoff with two armed men with a hostage, their brother waited outside, urging officers to use nonlethal force.
When the standoff ended in a blast of gunfire, his brothers were dead, four police officers were wounded with minor injuries, and the hostage was shot.
Leonard Green and Brandon Green were killed in the incident on White Oak Road that lasted from Tuesday afternoon to early Wednesday morning.
“People need to know the whole story before they start assuming stuff,” Lester Green, their brother, told Clarksville Now.
He said several people have said awful things on social media about his brothers. “They’re dumb for doing it,” Lester said. “They’re stupid for doing it. … But they’re still human beings.”
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He said he urged police to use flash-bang grenades and tear gas before going go in. Instead, he said, they entered with M-16s firing.
“When somebody gets backed into a corner and they’ve got nothing to lose, they come out swinging,” Lester said. “I told the police all of this. … I know my brothers, and at the end of the day, it happened exactly the way I said it was going to happen.”
Clarksville Now has reached out to Clarksville Police, who said they can’t comment as the incident is under standard investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. TBI has provided some information about the shootout, but has not yet provided details of what took place.
Brother’s account of standoff
All three Green brothers grew up in Clarksville, and the 30-year-old friend at the apartment was like a brother to them. Clarksville Now is not using the friend’s name, as we have not yet been able to contact him.
Leonard, 33, had five children, and Brandon, 31, had one daughter.
By Lester’s account, supplemented by what he was told by his brothers over the phone during the incident and by their friend afterward, police arrived at about 2 p.m. to serve warrants for aggravated robbery on both Leonard and Brandon. Police had found out the brothers were staying at the home of the friend, later identified as a hostage.
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Police obtained a key and, without knocking, entered the apartment, Lester said. “Clarksville Police came in with guns shooting before they even knew who was in the apartment.”
Lester said his brothers, both armed with pistols, fired back, hitting one officer in the foot. The officers retreated and set up a perimeter.
Lester claims his brothers didn’t know that the people who burst into the apartment were police, and they found out afterward. “By that time, they didn’t care.”
CPD has declined to give their account of what happened, citing the TBI investigation.
There was a second exchange of gunfire at about 7 p.m. Lester said that the entire time, the front door to the apartment was still open.
Final confrontation
When police entered at about 1:30 a.m., Leonard shot himself, Lester was told. He said that’s not certain, and the family is awaiting an autopsy report before they know for sure.
As police fired into the apartment, Brandon leaned over to protect their friend, and Brandon was shot five to 10 times in the back, Lester said. “Brandon took all the bullets.”
“How is he supposed to be dangerous if you’re shooting him in the back?” Lester asked.
The friend was apparently wounded in the legs, arm and abdomen, but he has recovered from his injuries and is back home.
Lester is frustrated that police burst in that afternoon without giving his brothers a chance to surrender, and that they used lethal force to end the standoff. “They could have all come out alive instead of two of them in the morgue,” he said.
No additional information has been released by TBI. The incident remains under investigation.
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