MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A shooting rampage across Memphis came to an end Wednesday night, and Memphis police took 19-year-old Ezekiel Dejuan Kelly into custody.
Kelly was arrested at 9:20 p.m., and city leaders held a press conference just after midnight.
Memphis Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said during a news conference early Thursday that four people were killed and three others were wounded in seven shootings and at least two carjackings.
On social media — where Kelly is accused of livestreaming one of the killings — he went by various spellings of the name Zeek Huncho. In a Facebook Live video seen by a WREG staff member, a suspect who appeared to be Kelly was seen getting out of a car, walking into an AutoZone and firing shots. The video was later removed from the platform.
In 2020 at age 17, Kelly faced four felony charges, including two counts of attempted murder, one count of reckless endangerment and one count of possession of a firearm, according to court records.
Sources told WREG he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of aggravated assault in the case in 2021. He received three years in that case.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said Kelly was released March 16 after serving 11 months of a three-year sentence.
During Wednesday’s shooting rampage, the first killing was at 12:56 a.m., and officers responded to three more crime scenes before receiving a tip at 6:12 p.m. that the suspect was livestreaming himself threatening to cause harm to citizens, Davis said.
Police then sent out an alert warning people to be on the lookout for an armed and dangerous man responsible for multiple shootings and reportedly recording his actions on Facebook.
Three more shootings and two carjackings followed. Police said the suspect killed a woman in Memphis as he took her grey Toyota SUV, which, they say, he left behind when he stole a man’s Dodge Challenger across the state line in Southaven, Mississippi.
Kelly was arrested without incident two hours after the initial police alert when he crashed the Challenger during a high-speed chase and two guns were found in the vehicle, Davis said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
