The suspect spent three months in prison after pleading guilty to an assault last year. “If Mr. Kelly served his full three-year sentence, he would still be in prison today, and four of our fellow citizens would still be alive,” Mayor Jim Strickland said.
Just days after Eliza Fletcher was found dead after being abducted while jogging in Memphis, the city again faces a terrible tragedy.
The entire city was placed on lockdown after four people were killed and three were wounded during a 22-hour shooting rampage.
“Once again our community has been faced with another senseless, senseless act of violence,” Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. said at a press conference.
The incident sparked a citywide “shelter in place” order, and police asked for the public's help on local news.
“He's armed and dangerous and everybody needs to shelter in place or go home until we get this resolved,” an official told the public.
Police say the shooting spree began when 19-year old Ezekiel Kelly shot his friend to death at 12:56 a.m.
Later that afternoon, just after 4:30 p.m., Kelly allegedly pulled up to a total stranger and opened fire. Two minutes later, a woman was shot in the leg as she stood on the side of the road.
At 5:59 p.m., Kelly was livestreaming as entered an AutoZone and shot a customer, who is now in critical condition.
Nearly two hours later, he allegedly killed a woman after carjacking her car, before shooting at two other random people.
Grainy video shows the moment Kelly was arrested, ending the harrowing ordeal.
Some are outraged after learning that the suspect pleaded guilty to assault charges in 2021, in which a man was almost killed. Kelly was sentenced to three years in prison, but was released after serving just three months.
“If Mr. Kelly served his full three-year sentence, he would still be in prison today, and four of our fellow citizens would still be alive,” Mayor Jim Strickland said.
Authorities identified at least eight crime scenes, including across the state line in Mississippi.
