MEMPHIS, Tenn. — District Attorney Steve Mulroy announced that he is pursuing the death penalty against Ezekiel Kelly, the man accused of killing three and injuring several others during a shooting rampage last year.
Watch the full press conference in the player below.
Monday morning, Mulroy said this would be his first death penalty motion. While he is against the death penalty, he says by law, it is necessary.
“I’ve made no secret of my personal opposition to the death penalty as a policy matter. If I were a legislator, I would vote against it. But as DA I have a duty to enforce the law as it is written, whether I agree with it or not,” Mulroy said.
The DA said he has notified the families of the victims, and they had no problem with his choice.
The DA’s office said Kelly committed the following four aggravating factors:
- The defendant was previously convicted of one or more felonies, other than the
present charge, whose statutory elements involve the use of violence to the person. - The defendant committed “mass murder,” which is defined as the murder of three or
more persons whether committed during a single criminal episode, or at different
times within a 48-month period. - The murder was committed in the course of an act of terrorism (see TCA 39-13-805
Commission of Act of Terrorism). - The murder was committed at random, and the reasons for the killing are not
obvious or easily understood.
Ezekiel Kelly, 19, reportedly went on a shooting rampage across Memphis for nearly 24 hours on September 7, 2022. One shooting at an AutoZone store on Jackson Avenue was live-streamed on Facebook.
Kelly was captured after a chase from Mississippi back into Memphis.
Kelly had been released from jail on March 16 last year after serving 11 months of a three-year sentence for an aggravated assault plea.
He is now indicted and has pleaded not guilty on 28 charges, including reckless endangerment, first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, the commission of an act of terrorism, and other charges.
Kelly has pled not guilty and will be back in court on April 13.
Below is Ezekiel Kelly’s timeline of events, according to the District Attorney’s Office:
12:33 a.m. Mr. Kelly shoots DeWayne Tunstall in the head.
4:35 p.m. Mr. Kelly kills Richard Clark in South Memphis at the BP Gas Station at 946 S
Parkway E.
4:36 p.m. Mr. Kelly shoots and wounds Lakesha McGlathen while she was changing a flat
tire on the side of I240. Her father, Wille McGlathen witnessed it.
5:50 p.m. Mr. Kelly uses Facebook to live stream the shooting of Rodolfo Zepeda at the
AutoZone located at 4011 Jackson.
5:56 p.m. The Facebook Live video begins to go spread across social media and causes
panic throughout the city. Kelly’s mother calls the police to alert them of the video her son
posted.
7:00 p.m. MPD tweets regarding Ezekiel Kelly and the city being placed on lockdown.
7:21 p.m. Mr. Kelly fires shots at several vehicles at the intersection of Poplar and N.
McLean in Midtown. Randall Graham is shot in the arm as he is driving. A bullet goes
through the pants leg of Matthew Carrozza.
7:25 p.m. Mr. Kelly approaches the vehicle of Allison Parker at Poplar and Evergreen and
kills Parker while carjacking her. He drives away in her car.
8:52 p.m. Mr. Kelly flees south and carjacks Demetrick Porter in Southaven who
recognized Kelly from the news reports of the lockdown.
9:15 p.m. Mr. Kelly is captured at Hodge and Ivan in Whitehaven.
WREG reached out to the Public Defender’s office representing Kelly. We are waiting to hear back.
