Four people were killed and at least three others were injured in a massacre that lasted several hours on Wednesday in Memphis, in the US state of Tennessee. Suspected shooter Ezekiel Kelly, 19, was arrested with two guns in his vehicle around 9 pm local time and taken into custody without incident, local police chief Cerelyn Davis told reporters.
The suspect is believed to have killed his first victim on Wednesday shortly before 1 a.m., before continuing his murderous journey through the city in the afternoon and evening. At least eight crime scenes have been identified, including one “carjacking(carjacking with violence) and shootings in a store, added Cerelyn Davis, specifying that Ezekiel Kelly had broadcast part of his acts on Facebook Live.
The authorities have given instructions to call residents to stay in their homes during this massacre and have cordoned off certain sectors. The municipality also temporarily suspended public transport service and closed the local university.
“An Absurd Bloody Ensemble”
the New York Times has tracked down the murder team as far as the police have been able to establish. The killer first shot a 24-year-old man near the victim’s home shortly before 1 a.m. Around 4:30 a.m., two shootings were reported, coming from two separate but adjoining areas, in which a man was killed in his car and a woman was injured in the legs.
At 6 am, the shooter logged on to Facebook – it was the social network’s feed that alerted police – before shooting into a store, hitting a man who was there. He then he stole a car, killing the owner. He fired two more shots in a row after this robbery, killing another woman and wounding a man.
The city’s mayor, Jim Strickland, denounced “an absurd bloody escapade”, confiding his “anger at the citizens who had to take shelter until a suspect was arrested”.
“It’s not a life, it’s not acceptable,” he said. “The people of this city have faced violence that no one should know about.”
An endemic scourge
The United States is often the scene of mass murder and other acts of gun violence, but the issue of gun control remains politically sensitive and Congress remains reluctant to tighten laws in this area.
At least 490 people have died in mass shootings and crimes since the beginning of the year in the United States, and 14,050 have died in cases involving firearms, excluding suicides, during the same period, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Source: BFM TV
