(Photo : Brad Vest/Getty Images)
The mayor of Memphis condemned the incident as a "senseless murder rampage."
Memphis Police announced they seized the man who shot at people as he drove around the city on Wednesday for hours, killing four and causing people to hide in place out of fear.
Ezekiel Kelly, who is 19 years old and was charged as an adult with attempted first-degree murder in 2020, was arrested around 9 p.m. in the Whitehaven neighborhood of Memphis, according to police spokeswoman Karen Rudolph, per CBS News.
Memphis Police Director Cerelyn "CJ" Davis confirmed charges were pending.
According to Davis, seven gunshots around Memphis killed four individuals and injured three others. The rampage began at 12:56 a.m. Wednesday and continued till roughly 8:30 p.m.
Seven gunshots and a carjacking in Southaven, Mississippi, totaled eight crime incidents committed by the suspect, Davis said.
Suspect Resisted Arrest
After crashing during a high-speed chase from Mississippi back to Memphis, the culprit was apprehended. It happened after the carjacking in Memphis' southern neighbor, Southaven.
According to WREG-TV, a CBS station in Memphis, the suspect engaged in a standoff in Memphis by refusing to exit the car, which police surrounded. The SWAT Team was called in to help. Shelby County Sheriff's officers helped Memphis police arrest the suspect.
About two hours after police issued a warning that a guy driving a light blue Infiniti was responsible for many gunshots in the city, the suspect was apprehended. Police said that after robbing the Dodge Challenger in Southaven, he subsequently murdered a woman in Memphis and stole her gray Toyota SUV. Police said that he posted videos of his conduct on Facebook.
Killing Rampage
Police were called to the first incident at one in the morning on Wednesday when a man was discovered shot to death in a driveway, according to NBC News. Around 4:30 p.m., the gunfire continued.
Around 7 p.m., Memphis police posted an urgent tweet saying that a man with a gun was responsible for several shootings.
"We are getting reports that he is recording his actions on Facebook. We do not have a specific location of where he is now," the tweet stated.
Police Chief Davis stated during an early Thursday press conference that officers discovered the first shooting victim, a guy who was dead, at 12:56 in the morning.
Police discovered a man shot to death inside a car around 4:38 p.m. Two minutes later, they found a woman who had been shot in the leg and was injured; and just before 6 p.m., the suspect allegedly entered a store while broadcasting on Facebook Live and shot and critically injured a man, she claimed.
Someone alerted police that the suspect was threatening individuals on Facebook, so they started a citywide search and ordered everyone to stay indoors.
Later, two more bodies were discovered, Davis noted.
Around 7:23 p.m., a lady was found dead from a gunshot wound. A male was discovered shot and injured at the same time that the gunman fled in her car, according to Davis.
Another lady was fatally shot around 8:55 p.m., she claimed.
Just before 9 p.m., the suspect stole a car from a person at a gas station in Southaven, Mississippi, which is close to Memphis. The suspect then took the person's Dodge Challenger and drove away, police said. The victim wasn't hurt.
Minutes later, police spotted that Challenger, leading to a high-speed chase and Kelly's quick and painless arrest, according to Davis. She said that the automobile had two weapons.
At an early-morning press conference on Thursday, Mayor Jim Strickland denounced a "senseless murder rampage." He said he was angry for the people who had to stay inside until the suspect was caught, The New York Times reported.
"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," Mayor Strickland said.
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