NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – It’s been almost three months since she was shot and killed while jogging in the Edgehill community. Now, lawmakers are working hard to amend a law in her honor.

Jillian Ludwig, 18, was hit by a stray bullet in November 2023. Her senseless death sent shockwaves through the city and left many asking the question of why her death happened in the first place.

“Every parent’s worst nightmare. I mean, we just really miss our girl,” sighed Jessica Ludwig, as she started to talk about her daughter.

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Jessica and her husband Matt love to talk about what made Jillian special. Jillian developed her love of music at a young age and started to appear in her church choir. It was clear to everyone in the family that Jillian would be a musical star. This is why coming to Nashville and attending Belmont University to make those dreams come true was an obvious choice.

“Living her dreams. She loved Nashville; she loved Belmont; she was just really, really happy. We thought she was the luckiest girl in the world until she was the unluckiest girl in the world,” Jessica said.

At the time of her death, Jillian was a freshman at Belmont. On Nov. 7, 2023, everything changed when a stray bullet hit her in the head while she was walking in a nearby park just about a mile away from Belmont’s campus.

“We need them to know who Jillian was – not just a girl who was shot – that she was a daughter and a sister and had a really amazing list of accomplishments and a great future ahead of her, and we needed people to hear who she was from us,” said Matt.

Matt and Jessica spoke before the Criminal Justice Subcommittee this week addressing a proposed law. The goal was to not only share their story, but Jillian’s.

“We felt it was important that we show our faces and represent Jill because she can’t herself, and we wanted to make our case as to why this reform is needed and really just tell our story and have people hear it from us directly,” he explained.

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The proposed law, ‘Jillian’s Law’, is named in her honor. The goal is to close a loophole in the system for those deemed incompetent to stand trial.

Her suspected killer was out of jail on a technicality, but lawmakers are now trying to close that loophole.

“She went for a walk in the middle of the afternoon, a jog, and it’s just unimaginable…that tragedy, the senseless tragedy,” Jessica said. “The fact that the shooter was out walking the streets after a whole list of crimes and that there’s this loophole that needs to close because we don’t want anyone to live this nightmare that we’re going through.”

Shortly after the shooting, Shaquille Taylor was arrested for the shooting. It was quickly revealed he was a repeat offender who was prosecuted in April 2023 for a separate assault with a deadly weapon. The case against him was dismissed after three court-appointed physicians ruled he was incompetent to stand trial.

In an interview with District Attorney Glenn Funk, he explained Taylor also didn’t qualify to go to a mental health facility.

“If you need help, if you’re mentally disabled, then you need to go to a mental hospital. You can’t just be dismissed and go walk back on the streets to commit your next crime, and unfortunately, most people seem in agreement with that, but it took somebody losing her life to make a change that was so necessary,” Jessica told News 2.

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Jillian’s Law would require defendants like Taylor to be committed to an appropriate treatment facility, something the current law does not mandate. It would also require those deemed incompetent to stand trial to be entered into the National Instant Criminal Background Check system, which serves as a namecheck database of people prohibited from buying or owning firearms.

“She liked to be on stage. She liked to perform, but she didn’t like to be the center of attention, other than playing her music, so I think she would think that all of this is just crazy, but I would think that she wouldn’t want her death to be in vain, and she helped people; she gave back, so I think this is a way for us to continue that for her,” Jessica said when we asked what she thinks Jillian would think about the proposed legislation.

Jillian’s father answered the same question, saying, “I think she would be proud of us for fighting for her.”

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