Three persons were shot dead and three others critically injured in shootings across Memphis within 18 hours over the Halloween weekend, police said.
The Memphis Police Department announced the seven cases in a flurry of statements on X (formerly Twitter). The officers responded to the first shooting reported at 12:48 p.m. Saturday on Park Avenue to find a victim critically injured.
The second shooting report at 4:30 p.m. Saturday led them to another victim reportedly dead from a gunshot wound on Lapaloma Street, about 2.5 miles from the scene of the first shooting.
The third victim was found in the area of Tessland Road and Raleigh Millington Road — about 16 miles from the second scene — following a 10:10 p.m. shooting report. The man was pronounced dead in hospital, per officials.
The fourth shooting report — at 12:24 a.m. Sunday — was of a fourth victim on Boxdale Street, about 15 miles from the third scene but only about six miles from the first and eight miles from the second. The victim, critically injured, reportedly later died in hospital, per officials.
At least two people are dead, and others are injured after multiple shootings overnight across the city of Memphis.https://t.co/KxXesJjm9B
— WREG News Channel 3 (@3onyourside) October 29, 2023
The fifth victim was located on Jamie Drive — about eight miles from the fourth scene — following a 1:18 a.m. Sunday shooting report and assessed in hospital as critically injured, per officials.
The police learned at 6:18 a.m. Sunday of a sixth shooting victim who reportedly arrived critically injured at Baptist Memorial Hospital on Walnut Grove Road — within a 15-mile radius of the five other scenes, per officials. Memphis Police did not state where the victim sustained the injury.
Later, a juvenile was shot at about 3:38 p.m. at Elvis Presley Boulevard — about two miles from the fifth crime scene — and is in critical condition in a hospital, per officials. (RELATED: 2 Dead, 18 Injured In Shooting During Halloween Festivities With Hundreds Present)
All victims were males, per officials. An investigation into each incident was ongoing, per Memphis Police. The police did not identify the victims nor did they state if the shootings were connected or independent events.
The police have made no arrests so far, WREG News Channel 3 reported.
“It’s a tragedy to the city,” said Nelson Crawford, a resident worried that violence in Memphis had become intractable, per WREG News.