The 19-year-old man police say is responsible for several shootings in Memphis, Tennessee Wednesday evening is in custody, bringing to an end a two-plus hour crisis that had police asking people to stay indoors.
Police said around 9:20 p.m. that officers arrested Ezekiel Kelly, who was released from prison in March.
Police had advised people to stay indoors around 7 p.m. while they searched for the suspected shooter.
SEE ALSO: Police Say Man On Shooting Rampage In Tennessee On Facebook Live
Police confirmed Kelly was in custody after issuing a shelter-in-place alert for an area in Whitehaven.
Kelly has prior arrests for attempted first-degree murder and reckless endangerment in 2020.
He was sentenced to three years but was released March 16 this year. Police issued a warrant for first-degree murder for Kelly on Wednesday night. Police did not immediately say how many people were injured or killed.
Police caution people to look out for Kelly in a gray Toyota with an Arkansas license plate AEV63K, after initially reporting he was driving a Toyota with a red dealer tag and a broken rear window.
Brownlee said he heard secondhand reports Kelly hijacked the SUV and injured the person in the car but he can not confirm that is true.
“The suspect is still at large,” police said in a tweet at 8 p.m. “If you do not have to be out, stay indoors until this is resolved.”
Amid the search for the suspected shooter, the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) suspended bus and trolley services indefinitely.
“MATA leaders are acting in an abundance of caution and care for the safety of its drivers and riders,” the public transit service issued in a press release Wednesday at 8:30 p.m.
MPD said there are reports of the man filming himself shooting and posting the videos to Facebook.
At 7:31 p.m. the University of Memphis alerted the campus to shots fired in the area of Patterson Street and Southern Avenue, the southwest corner of campus. According to the alert, the person “immediately fled” the area.
In an updated alert issued at 8:09 p.m., the U of M said “there is no threat currently at the University,” but advised students to follow police advisement and stay inside.
The university has locked doors across campus “for general safety” and had officers in the area on patrol.
“All University phones and the LiveSafe app have apparently been overwhelmed by the volume of calls and reports,” the U of M wrote in its alert.
At the intersection of Poplar Avenue and McLean Boulevard, a Commercial Appeal reporter saw a man injured on the sidewalk and being helped into an ambulance, along with police crime scene tape blocking the area outside Midtown Center for Health and Rehabilitation.
A Honda Pilot SUV with its windows out was parked in the area.
Police blocked off Poplar Avenue from McLean Boulevard to North Evergreen Street on Wednesday evening.
Local residents gathered outside their homes on North Auburndale Street Wednesday evening, near where one of the incidents happened.
As she observed police working behind crime scene tape, Mary Dudley, said she was not surprised that this happened in Memphis.
“Living in Memphis is like living in every episode of Breaking Bad,” Dudley
Dudley said she works downtown and people often ask her “is it safe. What do you think.”
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