Memphis Mayor Blasts Facebook-Streaming Mass-Killer’s Early-Release: “4 Of Our Fellow Citizens Would Still Be Alive”

Wednesday night’s hours-long Memphis shooting rampage, part of which 19-year-old Ezekiel Kelly live streamed on Facebook, came to an end shortly after 9pm, Memphis Police Chief C. J. Davis confirmed in a Thursday morning press conference.

Memphis police had urged citizens across the city to stay indoors, identifying Kelly as “armed and dangerous” in a 7pm social media post and city-wide alert. It all began at around 12:56 am with the killing of a 24-year old man in his driveway on Glendale Avenue, and went on to include a total of at least eight separate shootings throughout the day and evening, which left four dead and three injured.

Armored vehicles leaving the scene after suspect Ezekiel Kelly was taken into custody.

The scene at Ivan and Hodge in South Memphis appears to be wrapping up. pic.twitter.com/vPnpeQ9Wcv

— Clayton Collier (@ClaytonJCollier) September 8, 2022

The rampage included Kelly going up to strangers sitting in parked cars and shooting them execution-style, or in their driveways, or random pedestrians on the street. At one point he Facebook live-streamed himself going into an AutoZone to shoot a middle-aged man at close range. 

Before walking into the store he rants “no faking, this shit for real,” according to the livestream, which was quickly soon thereafter taken down by Facebook. In another clip while driving a stolen car, he’s seen yelling about “justice”. 

Local media described his apprehension by police as follows: 

According to Southaven police, a Dodge Challenger was stolen at a Raceway gas station on Stateline Road just before 9 p.m. The driver of the car recognized Kelly as the suspect and ran off. 

A brief high-speed chase had ensued, resulting in Kelly crashing his stolen car, and that’s when he was taken into custody. 

The New York Post observes that the killing spree happened at a moment people in the state are saddened and outraged over another grisly and senseless killing: “Kelly’s alleged shooting spree struck a nerve for many Memphis residents who were already reeling from a recent spate of violence and high-profile killings, including the abduction and murder of Tennessee school teacher Eliza Fletcher.”

This outrage is growing as it’s been revealed that Ezekiel Kelly had recently been released from jail very early where he’d been serving a violent crime conviction. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland in fresh statements acknowledged that he’d been let out early on March 16, having served a mere 11 months of a 3-year sentence for aggravated assault. 

Mayor Strickland voiced the frustration of many citizens in revealing the following:  

In June 2020, Kelly was arrested on charges of attempted first-degree murder, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault, according to public records.

He was sentenced to three years, but was released this year on March 16 after serving just 11 months, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said. 

The mayor slammed the courts for Kelly’s early release. “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,” Strickland said. 

It’s unclear why Kelly was released early. 

Numerous felony charges are pending against Kelly, as police still process the many crime scenes left in the wake of the homicidal rampage.

Breaking: I looked into the criminal history of Ezekiel Kelly, the #Memphis gunman. Last year he was convicted of aggravated assault & sentenced to 3 years prison but was released early. His attempted murder & other felony charges were dismissed.

He was charged today with murder pic.twitter.com/MSg5fGnFOz

— Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) September 8, 2022

Police have released a timeline of the shootings according to the below: 

• 12:56 a.m., a 24-year-old man was killed on Lyndale in the Highland Heights neighborhood. A suspect who called himself Zeek Huncho on social media was developed.
• 4:38 p.m., a man was found shot dead in a vehicle at a gas station on South Parkway E. Survillance video revealed a man in a gray sedan pulled up next to the victim’s car and opened fire.
• 4:40 p.m., a woman was injured in a second shooting on Norris Road near I-240. The suspect fled in a dark sedan.
• 5:59 p.m. Kelly walked into an AutoZone store in the 4000 block of Jackson Avenue and shot a man while livestreaming on Facebook. The man was in critical condition, police said.
• 6:56 p.m., Memphis Police put out an alert on the suspect after receiving a call that Kelly was making threats on Facebook.
• 7:23 p.m., a woman was killed in a shooting at Poplar and Evergreen. Police said Kelly took her gray SUV and fled.
• 7:24, man shot at Poplar and Evergreen
• 8:55 p.m., woman shot dead on Raines Road
• 8:56 p.m., Southaven Police responded to a carjacking at Stateline Road and Highway 51. Kelly took the man’s gray Dodge Challenger and left the SUV behind.
• 8:58 p.m., Memphis Police officers spotted the Dodge Challenger going northbound on Interstate 55, and a high-speed pursuit began. The p[ursuit ended at Hodge Road and Ivan in southwest Memphis, where Kelly was taken into custody without incident.

After wreaking havoc on the city of Memphis for hours, 19yo Ezekiel Kelly, is pictured here in his mugshot smiling from ear to ear.

Police say he killed 4 people & injured 3 others in a shooting rampage.

He recorded one of the shootings inside an AutoZone on Facebook live. pic.twitter.com/IVjkOZ4BOP

— Bria Jones (@BriaJonesTV) September 8, 2022

Throughout Wednesday evening much of Memphis and surrounding areas had come to a standstill, as at one point public bus services had been canceled, and two universities were put on high alert, and at one point as Kelly had briefly crossed state lines into Mississippi.