In a three-part series, WREG Investigators are digging deeper into the problem of crime downtown, looking at the mounting concern, the widespread impact and possible solutions.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It was a Friday night in October. A man said he was driving back home from downtown Memphis when a car next to him opened fire — yet another violent incident happening in the city’s core.
“We were sitting there, and they laid on their horn,” the man told us. “I couldn’t tell what was needed or anything like that, so I just continued when the light turned green.”
He asked us to hide his identity because of what happened next.
He hit another red light at Third and Monroe, where the car that honked at him pulled beside him.
“I just saw a male and female, and I thought maybe they were on a date downtown and having a good time as well. Nothing about the incident thought they were going to shoot me,” he said.
They told him to roll down the window. He said it looked like a “friendly gesture.”
“I roll the window down, and at that point, they ask me to get out of the car,” he said.
He hit the gas and said the couple also ran the red light. “They started following me at a high rate of speed down Third Street.”
Right after he got on the interstate, he said he heard another loud noise.
Two gun shots. One hit the back of his car. The second pierced the front, grazed his left leg and went through his right calf.
“(I) grabbed my leg, plugged the hole to minimize the blood coming out and continued to chase them down,” he said.
He said they went into North Memphis while he called 911. He said he gave up when the pair turned off their lights and turned onto an unfamiliar street. They have yet to be found.
Downtown Memphis has been plagued with shootings, robberies, car thefts and more. Nine people have been killed downtown so far this year.
One of them was Anita Wilkins’s daughter. In August, near South Main, she was reportedly caught in crossfire.
Weeks later, security cameras captured a pair who police say shot a man waiting for a ride near Union and Second.
“No parent should have to go through this,” Wilkins told us.
Last month. a robbery on Tennessee Street ended with a St. Jude doctor shot and killed in front of his wife and toddler.
“Alex’s dream was for them to stay and have careers here and raise their daughter here,” a family friend said.
In 2022, Memphis police said their downtown wards responded to more than 2,165 Part One crimes, which include murders, aggravated assaults, rapes, robberies, carjackings, burglaries, motor vehicle and other felony thefts.
Looking at just aggravated assaults, 139 were reported last year. Add another 75 the first part of this year. Even more have made headlines since then, including one inside FedExForum and another on Beale that left eight injured.
WREG Investigators uncovered dozens of incident reports on or near Beale.
One report stated a group with an “AK style rifle” approached a woman “changing her shoes,” pushed her to the ground and robbed her.
Another incident, a man claimed he was punched in the head during a robbery. Weeks before that, a tourist told police he was hit in the face, stomped on, put in a dumpster and robbed of his wallet and “prayer rock his daughter gave him.”
Most of the reports we found involved a gun. Officers often stopped the firearm from getting onto Beale.
What’s even more unsettling, a report stating a man hid his gun in an alley, so he could go into a bar. Two men saw him retrieve it, then held him at gunpoint and robbed him of the gun.
“We see more guns on our street now than we have ever seen in the history of MPD,” Chief CJ Davis said.
On top of that, police said property crime is another problem. Between last year and the first part of this year, the downtown wards responded to 914 car break-ins and 986 motor vehicle thefts.
A family from Colorado told us someone stole their car form a downtown hotel’s valet line. All of their belongings gone.
“When I think back on what has caused the crime, there is zero fear,” said the man shot at in October.
He said criminals aren’t afraid of the consequences, policing is more reactive than proactive and the justice system has become a revolving door.
“The laws don’t make sense. The criminals have too much freedom,” he said.
He tells us he left his gun at home that night since he went to Beale street and didn’t want it stolen from his car. He questions that decision.
Coming up Tuesday on News Channel 3:
At 6, business owners are demanding change before it starts to really impact tourism and the economy. Find out what’s one thing they believe will change the course of downtown.
Then, on News Channel 3 at 10, a crime plan has been presented to top officials. We show you the plan and find out what the next mayor wants to do about it.
