According to local police, a man went on an hour-long shooting spree through the city, forcing terrified citizens to take cover before he was apprehended, during which he is said to have killed four people.
According to Memphis police spokesperson Karen Rudolph, Ezekiel Kelly, 19, was apprehended in the Whitehaven neighbourhood at 9 p.m.
According to Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis, seven gunshots in Memphis resulted in the deaths of four persons and the injuries of three more. The attack started at 12:56 a.m. on Wednesday and lasted until around 8:30 p.m.
According to Davis, there were at least eight crime scenes, including the seven shootings and the Southaven carjacking.
About two hours before, police had issued a warning claiming that a man operating a light blue Infiniti was responsible for a number of shootings in the area. He allegedly later changed to a grey Toyota SUV, according to police.
Police claimed that he posted videos of his conduct on Facebook.
Public bus service was interrupted while the shooter terrified the city, and a minor league baseball game was being played in a downtown stadium when it was put on lockdown. Friends and family members quickly texted and called one another to inquire about one another’s well-being. TV networks interrupt normal coverage to notify viewers.
Students at the University of Memphis received a notification stating that a shooting had been reported nearby. Rhodes College, located approximately 4 miles from the university, warned both on- and off-campus students to take cover.
Rhodes College and the University of Memphis are both 12 miles from the place where Kelly was detained.
Before being apprehended back in Memphis, police in Southaven, Mississippi, a city south of Memphis and just across the state border, claimed Kelly had stolen a car from a petrol station there.
Before the arrest, Memphis police advised residents to stay inside until the issue was addressed if they could.
Rudolph admitted to WMC-TV that police were unaware of the shooting’s purpose.
It was requested that anyone with information dial 911.
Memphis has recently been rocked by a string of high-profile killings, including the shooting deaths of a pastor during a daylight carjacking in her driveway, an activist during a dispute over money, and a woman who was killed after being kidnapped and killed while out for a run in the early morning.
Chase Carlisle, a member of the Memphis City Council, wrote on Twitter, “I understand it feels like so much violence and evil to experience in such a short time.” We are SO much more than this, I tell you.
According to court documents, Kelly, who was 17 at the time, was charged as an adult in February 2020 with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent felony, and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon.
The case’s circumstances weren’t immediately clear.
According to records, he admitted to aggravated assault and received a three-year prison term.
How much of the sentence he served was not immediately known.