A woman recounted the moments before and after the deadly assault of a woman on an Antioch greenway.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A woman recounted the moments before and after the deadly assault of a woman on an Antioch greenway.
Alyssa Lokits, 34, was killed as she was exercising on the Mill Creek Greenway on Monday. Metro Police arrested Paul Park, 29, of Brentwood for her death.
According to police, their preliminary investigation showed that Lokits was walking on the trail when Park began following her. At a Tuesday press conference, Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said that witnesses told police they heard her yelling, “Help! He’s trying to rape me!” before they heard gunshots.
According to a witness, who has asked to remain anonymous, she said she saw the suspect prior to the deadly shooting. The witness told News 2 that he was going in and out of the woodline and jumping across the fence. She added that she thought he was acting very suspicious and would have approached him, but she didn’t feel safe.
After the witness left the area, she said that she noticed a group of people acting frantic. When she got back to the trailhead, she and another witness found Lokits laying on the ground — bleeding.
“[We] put her shirt on her head to try to control the bleeding as much as we could. Talking to her — we did get part of her name…before the cops showed up, [we were] just trying to get her to talk,” the witness added. “That was the plan: for us to pray over her, pray with her, and let her know you’re not alone. That was my main thought: making sure she’s not alone.”
“We prayed over her. We prayed for each other,” she said. “When the paramedics came, we just broke down.”
The witness also explained that she helped police identify the suspect from video. On Wednesday, she placed flowers at the spot where Lokits was on the ground. The witness added that this was a moment that has truly devastated her and that she’s glad that the suspect is in custody.
Metro Parks posted a statement to X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday calling the tragedy “horrific.”
“Our top priority is for Nashvillians to feel safe and welcome at our parks and greenways,” the statement reads, in part. “From additional security cameras to adding more patrols on our greenways, we are constantly looking at ways to upgrade our security system.”
On Wednesday morning, News 2 went to a home believed to be the residence of the suspected killer. When News 2 approached the door, a woman immediately shut the doors to the house. A neighbor said that she saw police at the home on Tuesday.