UPDATE: MPD has confirmed they have arrested 38-year-old Marcus Orr in connection with the teen’s shooting death.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A 15-year-old boy was shot and killed in South Memphis Monday afternoon.
The shooting happened around 3:45 p.m. on Danny Thomas Boulevard and Ratliff Lane when witnesses said Marcus Orr, a convicted felon who previously served six years for aggravated assault, got into a verbal altercation with multiple teens.
15-year-old Damien Smith Jr. was shot in the back as he ran away. He died at the hospital.
Crime records said Orr admitted to telling the teens to not stand near his porch moments before firing shots at them.
Police said Orr also admitted that he did not see either of the juveniles with a gun.
Smith’s family is left heartbroken.
“The pain is very unbearable,” said his cousin Derrick Noel. “I don’t know the situation but I know DJ. If he simply would have asked DJ to exit his property, DJ would have left. For you to shoot him in the back goes to say that he was leaving your property and for you to say he didn’t have a gun goes to say you were a coward.”
Angry and frustrated, The family said Orr took his anger out on innocent children.
His aunt Shirley Nash said Smith was a Booker T. Washington student and a kid heading to play basketball when his life was taken before it started.
“I understand it was Valentine’s Day and things might not have went your way with your significant other.. but you shouldn’t have take it out on my nephew,” she said. “I feel for my brother the most because that was his junior…his bloodline stopped with DJ and you took that. You took a jewel from our family crown.”
Orr is being charged with second-degree murder, three counts of attempted second-degree murder, and convicted felon in possession of a firearm.
