MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Friends and family held a candlelight vigil Monday night for 7-year-old Kelby Shorty who was shot and killed on July 4th. His great aunt, Tosha Thomas, addressed the crowd.
“A baby is gone!” she said, “He play football, very mannerable, was not no bad child.”
Police say the shooting happened around eleven Sunday night outside a home on North Montgomery during a holiday celebration. Investigators say the shooters pulled up in a gray Mazda sedan and opened fire on the crowd, striking two women and young Kelby, who didn’t survive his wounds. Thomas says it was hard for Kelby to escape the gunfire because his foot was injured.
“Had he not cut his foot a couple weeks ago he probably would have been able to run,” Thomas said.
Police believe the shooters and the victims know each other but no arrests have been made. Family members say the shooting followed an argument at a nearby gas station.
“Y’all came from a gas station just pulled up and shot,” Thomas said, “Grown men, y’all want to pull a gun amongst women and kids. If you want to be gangsta use the gangsta rules. No women. No kids. No women! No kids!”
The heartbreaking incident adds to an alarming trend. Officials with Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital say they’re seeing more and more children shot in Memphis including a record-breaking 20 cases in May.
If you know anything about the shooting that claimed Kelby’s life please call Crime Stoppers at 901-528-CASH.
It’s been a record-breaking year for violence against children in Memphis. Doctors at Le Bonheur say they’ve seen 20 cases of children shot just in the month of May.