Gunman Killed 4, Injured 3 In Memphis — Terrorizing City For Hours, Police Say

MEMPHIS, TN — Four people are dead and three are injured in Memphis after a teenage gunman went on a violent, hours-long rampage, terrorizing the city for almost a full day before he was arrested Wednesday night, according to police.

Ezekiel Kelly, 19, is in custody and expected to face numerous felony charges, police said. Jail records showed Thursday that he is charged with first-degree murder.

“Once again our community has been faced with another senseless act of violence,” Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. said at a news conference streamed around midnight Thursday on Facebook by the Memphis Police Department.

“Our citizens in Memphis and Shelby County were going about their business. Ordinary citizens doing ordinary things. Getting off from work. Picking up children from daycare. Just going about their ordinary lives when it was all of a sudden shattered. Many families were shattered tonight.”

The prolonged shooting spree began just before 1 a.m. Wednesday, when police found a man dead in a driveway, authorities said. More than 12 hours later, shortly after 4:30 p.m., another man was shot dead, this time in his vehicle, according to police, and a woman was shot in the leg minutes later at a different location.

About 6 p.m., Kelly went on Facebook Live and opened fire inside a store in the 4000 block of Jackson Avenue, leaving a man in critical condition, police said. Not long after, a citizen tipped off authorities that Kelly was still live streaming and was threatening to hurt people, leading officials to launch a citywide search and recommend residents shelter in place, according to law enforcement.

More than an hour later, a woman was fatally shot and her vehicle was stolen seconds before a man was injured in a shooting nearby, police said. Another woman was killed around 9 p.m., just seconds before Kelly carjacked a gray Dodge Challenger and led police on a high-speed chase, which ended with Kelly in custody, according to authorities.

Kelly left at least eight crime scenes in his wake, according to Chief CJ Davis, who said there could be additional sites.

“I’m angry for our citizens who had to shelter in place for their own safety until this suspect was caught,” Mayor Jim Strickland said at the news conference. “This is no way for us to live and it is not acceptable. The people of our city were confronted with the type of violence no one should have to face.”

District Attorney Steve Mulroy noted residents who see a loved one in emotional distress should reach out to the person and contact police if appropriate, adding his office would show a “strong response” to Kelly’s case.

Kelly’s criminal history includes a charge of attempted first-degree murder but he pleaded guilty to a lesser offense of aggravated assault in April 2021, and was released from prison in March, after serving 11 months of a three-year sentence, according to Strickland.

“The problem is not the Memphis Police Department,” Strickland said. “Because they’re arresting people. The problem is this judicial system that will not punish. That is our problem.”