MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The man wanted for the shooting death of a 7-year-old boy may be connected to a 2019 deadly shooting.
Memphis Police are trying to locate 19-year-old Jordan Pittman. Police identified Pittman as one of the people they say is responsible for the death of 7-year-old Kelby Shorty, who was shot and killed outside of a home on North Montgomery while watching fireworks on the Fourth of July.
Memphis police released images of the people they believe are involved. While they try to identify two of three, they issued an arrest warrant for Pittman. He’s facing a first degree murder charge in Shorty’s death.
The pain of losing a son is something Shuketa Phelps knows personally. Her son 18-year-old Lou’Quavious Balfour was gunned down in a Raleigh neighborhood.
“My son was murdered in December of 2019,” Phelps said.
But that sense of loss isn’t the only connection she shares with Shorty’s family. She says Pittman was charged in connection to her son’s death in 2019.
“After hearing who actually took the life of that 7-year-old boy, I could only relive his mother’s feelings by thinking I’ve lost my child all over again, knowing that the system failed me, by having this young man arrested from December 2019 until February 2021 for murdering my child,” Phelps said.
A report shows a then 17-year-old Pittman was listed as the suspect and later arrested. Juvenile Court confirms he was in their system but couldn’t provide other details about this case.
This grieving mom says she hopes and prays he’s caught and justice is served.
“I hope that he is not set free and he is given the sentence that he deserves,” Phelps said.
She says living with this kind of pain is unbearable.
“There are no words to explain this pain,” Phelps said.
If you have any information that can help police locate Pittman and the other persons of interest, call Crime Stoppers at 528-CASH.
