Three Memphis police officers were shot, one fatally, in an early Friday shooting that also killed an 18-year-old suspect.
Interim Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis said Joseph McKinney, who joined the force in 2020, was killed.
One wounded officer was in non-critical condition at Regional One Health.
The other wounded officer was treated at the scene after being grazed, according to WHBQ-TV.
Davis said that when officers responded to a call of a suspicious vehicle at about 2 a.m., the occupants of the vehicle opened fire as soon as police arrived, according to CBS.
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Memphis police officer Joseph McKinney shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee
The killer was recently arrested for having a modified gun that was firing automatically, while in a stolen car, he was released without bail!pic.twitter.com/jjs8oTmRtw— Gavin (@Gavins2cents) April 12, 2024
Police returned fire before the vehicle drove away.
The vehicle stopped again after a short pursuit. Both suspects were taken into custody then and sent to the hospital in critical condition from gunshot wounds.
The 18-year-old suspect, who later died, had been arrested in March on auto theft charges. At the time, the suspect had an illegally modified semi-automatic weapon. At the time, the suspect was released without bond.
The second suspect is 17 years old, police said.
— Memphis Police Dept (@MEM_PoliceDept) April 12, 2024
“The men and women of the Memphis Police Department are hurt right now,” Davis said, according to WHBQ. “As chief of police, I am hurt right now. Once again, senseless deaths in our community by gun violence.”
“We’re not just concerned about our officers, we’re concerned about the public in general,” Davis said, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
“This could have been anybody. We’re just really, really disturbed at the boldness and the use of weapons in all these different situations that we’re seeing in our community. We have a family that’s grieving now. We have a wife that’s grieving now. We have the family of the suspects that are grieving,” Davis said.
“As a community, we have to do better. We have to ensure that parents know where young people are at three o’clock in the morning. We need to work as a community to do whatever we can with reducing gun violence in our community.”
“We are heartbroken of the lives lost, our fallen officer and this senseless act of violence,” Mayor Paul Young said, according to CBS.
According to WHBQ, it has only been slightly more than a year since the last Memphis police officer was killed. Officer Geoffrey Redd was killed on Feb. 18, 2023.
This isn’t “gun violence”. This is a systemic failure resulting from a liberal system that continues to fail our youth. Not the least of which is “released without bond”. Until we reverse this anti law enforcement trend we will continue to experience its lethal effects. Elections have consequences.