Landlord & Property Manager Liability After An Apartment Shooting

A shooting at your apartment complex changes everything. You’re left dealing with trauma, medical bills, and questions about how this could’ve happened. Sometimes, the answer lies with the people who own and manage the property. Under Tennessee premises liability law, landlords can be held accountable when their negligence creates conditions that make violent crime more likely. At Patterson Bray PLLC, we work with victims to understand whether they have a legal case.

What Negligent Security Really Means

Negligent security isn’t about blaming landlords for every bad thing that happens. It’s about holding them responsible when they don’t take reasonable steps to protect people from dangers they should’ve seen coming. A Memphis Personal Injury Lawyer can help you figure out whether a landlord’s failure to maintain basic security measures played a role in what happened. Property owners have a legal duty to keep their premises reasonably safe. That includes addressing known security problems and putting protections in place that match the crime level in the area. When they don’t, people get hurt.

What Counts As Forseeability

This question matters more than almost anything else in these cases. If a property has a track record of violent incidents, another shooting isn’t exactly surprising. Courts look at whether the landlord knew about previous criminal activity or should have known based on what was happening around them.

What counts as evidence of foreseeability:

• Police reports showing prior violence at the complex
• Tenant complaints about feeling unsafe
• Criminal activity is happening regularly in the neighborhood
• Previous shootings or armed robberies on the site

When landlords ignore these red flags, they’re gambling with people’s safety. That’s when liability kicks in.

The Security Failures We See Most Often

Many apartment shootings happen at properties where security problems are obvious to everyone except, apparently, management. Broken gates that anyone can walk through. Dark parking lots where you can barely see your own car. Cameras that haven’t worked in months, if they ever did. No security patrols despite ongoing crime issues. If your landlord promised security features when you signed the lease but never followed through, that makes the case even stronger.

When Safety Protocols Exist But Nobody Enforces Them

Sometimes, property managers actually set up security measures but let them fall apart. A gate that’s supposed to be locked stays propped open for weeks. The security guard who’s supposed to patrol at night stops showing up. Surveillance cameras get installed and then never maintained. We look for evidence showing that the property owner knew what needed to be done but chose not to do it.

Building Your Case For Compensation

A Memphis Personal Injury Lawyer will dig into every detail of what happened. We pull police records, examine the property’s crime history, talk to witnesses, and document every security failure that existed when the shooting occurred. You’ll need to prove several things. The landlord owed you a duty of care. They breached that duty through inadequate security. Their failure directly contributed to the shooting and your injuries. Tennessee law lets you recover compensation for medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and the emotional toll of what you’ve been through.

Steps To Take After A Shooting

Get medical help immediately, even if you think you’re okay. File a police report. Then start documenting everything you can about the property’s security problems. Take photos of broken gates, burnt-out lights, or cameras that clearly don’t work. Save any emails or texts where you complained to management about safety concerns. Landlords typically have insurance that covers premises liability claims. An attorney can track down all possible sources of compensation and deal with insurance companies that’ll try to pay as little as possible.

If you were hurt in a shooting at a Memphis apartment complex, you don’t have to accept that what happened was inevitable. Sometimes landlords create dangerous conditions through neglect, and sometimes they can be held accountable. We can review what happened and help you understand whether you have a path forward. Contact us today to discuss your case.