According to officials, a police officer in Memphis, Tennessee, died from a gunshot wound while responding to a suspicious car complaint early Friday morning. During a news conference, interim Police Chief Cerelyn Davis stated that one suspect was killed and two additional police officers and another suspect were wounded in an exchange of gunfire.
“We are heartbroken for the lives lost, our fallen officer, and this senseless act of violence,” Mayor Paul Young told reporters.
Davis named the slain officer as Joseph McKinney, 26, who had been with the police department for three years. The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office identified the slain suspect as Jaylen Lobley, age 18.
“The men and women of the Memphis Police Department are suffering right now. As chief of police, I am very saddened by the repeated senseless fatalities caused by gun violence in our community,” Davis stated.
Davis said the incident occurred after cops responded to a suspicious vehicle complaint at 2 a.m. Davis said the occupants of the vehicle opened fire on the officers as they approached.
Officers fired fire, and the suspects drove away, Davis stated. After a brief pursuit, the suspicious vehicle came to a halt. Police immediately apprehended one suspect and arrested the other nearby after they fled the scene. According to Davis, the hospital rushed both suspects in critical condition with gunshot wounds.
Davis added that they brought one of the injured policemen to the hospital, but their condition was not critical. The third officer received treatment on the scene.
Davis claims that he arrested Lobley last month on charges of auto theft and released him without bond. Davis claimed that when they apprehended him in March, he was carrying an illegally modified semiautomatic handgun.
The second suspect was identified as a 17-year-old.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting.
