Police: Man, 19, driving around Memphis shooting at people arrested

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Police in Memphis warned residents to shelter in place as a man drives around the city shooting at people on Wednesday night. That has now been lifted.

Memphis police said 19-year-old Ezekiel Kelly was driving a light blue Infiniti and was responsible for multiple shootings in the city. Police said he later switched vehicles to a grey Toyota SUV with Arkansas license tag AEV63K. He is now in police custody.

According to the Shelby County Jail, he currently faces one-count of first degree murder.

Shelby County Jail

It was not immediately known if anyone had been killed. Police said he was still at large and he was recording his actions on Facebook.

The University of Memphis sent a message to students saying a shooting had been reported near the campus. Rhodes College, which is about four miles away from the university, advised students on and off campus to shelter in place.

“If you do not have to be out, stay indoors until this is resolved," Memphis police said on Twitter.

Memphis police spokeswoman Karen Rudolph told WMC-TV that police did not know of a motive for the shooting.

Anyone with information was asked to call 911.

Memphis recently has been shaken by several shootings in recent weeks, including the killing of a pastor during a daylight carjacking in her driveway, the slaying of an activist during an argument over money, and the killing of a woman who was abducted while she was on a pre-dawn run.

Court records show in February of 2020, Kelly, then 17, was charged as an adult with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault, using a firearm to commit a dangerous felony and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon. The circumstances of the case were not immediately known.

Records show he pleaded guilty to three years in prison. It was not immediately known how much of the sentence he served.