MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The man accused of a shooting rampage across Memphis last Wednesday went before a judge Tuesday.
A gag order was put in place in Kelly’s trial on Tuesday by Judge Karen Massey, restricting public discussion of the case. The prosecution did not fight the restriction to discuss the case publicly.
“We want to give him a fair trial and any extrajudicial statement risk prejudicing a fair trial,” said Assistant District Attorney General Forrest Edwards.
Kelly was only in the courtroom for about five minutes. During that time, he only spoke to his lawyers and the judge did not ask him any questions. Judge Massey only told him when he was to report back to court on September 16.
During his first court appearance Friday, the 19-year-old was ordered held without bail.
He was arraigned on a single charge of first-degree murder but police say Kelly could face many more charges.
He’s accused of shooting six people, three fatally before being taken into custody late Wednesday night.
Kelly live-streamed one of the shootings on Facebook after which Memphis Police launched a manhunt and urged residents to stay indoors.
Police believe all the attacks were random except for the first, in which Kelly is accused of killing his friend, Dewayne Tunstall.
We spoke to Tunstall’s mother Marvettice Gilmore this week who said she heard Kelly mention her son as one of his victims in his live stream before one of his alleged shootings.
“He said my son nickname on the live, and he just kept on saying that was my first body was Sosa. He just kept on saying that was my first body and that’s what they call him, Sosa,” Gilmore said.
Assistant District Attorney Forrest Edwards could not say when or if Kelly could face additional charges.
Kelly had been out of jail for less than 5 months at the time of the shooting spree. He had just served 11 months for aggravated assault.
