Ex-con arrested after reportedly threatening shoppers at Cheatham County store

CHEATHAM COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — False imprisonment, aggravated assault, disorderly conduct—those are some of the charges for a Nashville man who allegedly terrorized shoppers in a Cheatham County store over the weekend.

According to Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office records, Johnny Heard is 57 years old. A check of his criminal history out of Metro shows an arrest record dating back to 1987.

His rap sheet includes assaults, stalking leaving the scene of an accident, evading arrest, and assault on a nurse as recently as 2023. Officials in the Davidson County prosecutor’s office said that was a spitting incident.

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On the night of Friday, April 5, the self-confessed crack addict was at it once again, this time at a Dollar General store off Clarksville Highway. According to the report, just before 9 p.m., deputies received multiple 911 calls from people inside the store alleging threatening behavior.

When the first deputy arrived on scene, he encountered Heard, who was allegedly agitated. The deputy got out of his squad car with his gun drawn. When Heard questioned why the deputy was on scene, the deputy amplified his voice and shouted, “Because you are threatening people, that’s what.”

The ex-con backed up without further incident and was handcuffed. When asked if he had any weapons on him, Heard said he didn’t and became angry that the deputy insisted upon searching him anyway.

The deputy told the suspect that it was his job and to relax multiple times, but the suspect was angry and loud.

• DEPUTY: “Hang tight with me.”
• HEARD: “Why you pull a gun on me for? Quit snatching on me, man! Quit snatching on me!”

The deputy asked the man to relax and questioned whether his angry behavior was all for a phone card.

Though the deputy was polite on body cam and did not appear to be manhandling the suspect, Heard remained angry and insinuated that the law officer was being too hard on him.

• HEARD: “Hey you hurt me so rough, man!”
• DEPUTY: “I’m not even roughing you.”
• HEARD: “You are roughing me up now.”
• DEPUTY: “How?”
• HEARD: “You are roughing on my arm too tight. Pushing me. Pulling me.”
• DEPUTY: “I don’t even have your arm.”
• HEARD: “Then let it go. Let it go.”
• DEPUTY: “Chill out.”

Heard explained to the deputy he purchased a phone card at the store and it would not activate. Heard said he called the phone card company six times but it would not activate, so he decided to come to the store and get a refund.

The store clerks told Heard they could not, by store policy, give him a refund on a card that he had already purchased, and he’d need to resolve the issue with the phone card company.

The deputy went inside the store and spoke to two clerks and two patrons, all of whom said Heard came into the store and threatened violence if they did not refund his phone card.

• DEPUTY: “How’s it going?”
• CLERK: “A little nervous…he started screaming, saying he was going to trash the place, he was going to shoot it up, he was going to shoot it up.”

Customers said when the Nashville man began pacing back and forth and allegedly threatening violence, patrons moved away from the counter and went to the rear of the store. Clerks said, because Heard stayed at the counter, they felt threatened to leave the area they were hiding in.

Back outside, the deputy relayed the fears and concerns of store personnel to the handcuffed suspect.

• DEPUTY: “They said you were threatening people.”
• HEARD: “I didn’t threaten no ******* body.”

The suspect continued to question why he was being arrested.

• DEPUTY: “Because you threatened to shoot the place up and trash the place.”
• HEARD: “No I didn’t. I said I see why people do that.”
• DEPUTY: “I got it, but people in there say otherwise.”
• HEARD: “I don’t care what they say, they are lying anyway.”

While searching Heard, the deputy found two crack pipes. Upon finding the drug paraphernalia, the suspect, who said he frequently smokes crack and had for years, began to laugh.

• HEARD: “That’s my crack pipe.”
• DEPUTY: “I know.”
• HEARD: “I smoke crack.”
• DEPUTY: “I gotcha.”
• DEPUTY: “You got any crack on you right now?”
• HEARD: “No.”

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According to the Department of Correction, Heard was convicted in 1987 for murder in the second degree. He served 15 years on that charge, getting out in 2002.

According to Cheatham County jail records, Heard’s bond after Friday night’s arrest is $37,000. Cheatham County officials told News 2, Heard’s next court date is next week.

His priors in Cheatham include driving on revoked or suspended and introduction of contraband into a penal facility in January 2021 and driving on revoked or suspended in August 2023.

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