► Update: Ezekiel Kelly made his first court appearance in this case Friday. See coverage here.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG)— The first victim in a string of seven shootings allegedly committed by 19-year-old Ezekiel Kelly on Wednesday was a 24-year-old father killed shortly after midnight, police said.
Police and friends identified him as Dewayne Tunstall. Officers said Tunstall was visiting a friend named Marcus Cash at a house in the 3100 block of Lyndale in Highland Heights. Four friends were at the house, and one of them was Kelly.
► Latest on the Sept. 7 shootings in Memphis
During a conversation, Kelly allegedly pulled Tunstall to the side, pulled out a handgun, and fired several shots, striking Tunstall in the head. In a now-deleted Facebook live streamed by Kelly, he admitted to shooting and killing Tunstall along with several other people.
Police found Tunstall with a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at 1:04 a.m., a few minutes after first responders arrived.
Marcus Cash spoke with WREG Thursday. Cash confirmed that he was a friend of Tunstall who was at the house when the shooting happened. He said he was detained for hours, unaware of what had happened after Tunstall’s death.
Cash said Tunstall was his close friend and business partner. The night of the shooting, he said they were preparing to open a barbecue food truck that they spent the last week working on.
“He was vegetarian. We even had vegan. Like, we had food for everybody,” Cash said.
Cash says that night, they cooked and invited friends over to enjoy — Kelly was one of them. He said he didn’t know Kelly well, but Kelly was more than likely invited over by Tunstall.
Cash said Kelly ate and laughed with them prior to the shooting. He says he does not know why Kelly shot his friend, but he knew the two had an argument the day before.
Tunstall is the father of a little girl and has another baby on the way, Cash said. He said Tunstall, who also made music, believed in helping others in any way possible.
Last year, WREG introduced you to Tunstall after he went viral on social media for helping a stranger pay for her gas.
“He always believed no one is better than the next. Everybody is equally the same,” Cash said of his friend.
