Category: Crime of the Week

Crime of the Week #1

January 1, 2021

HOMICIDE

At 1:10 p.m. Thursday, December 3, 2020 Memphis Police officers responded to reports of a shooting at a Dollar Tree store at 5110 Summer Avenue in east Memphis. At the scene officers found Antwoni Purnell on the floor. He was suffering from gunshot wounds and was unresponsive.

Purnell was pronounced dead on the scene by paramedics. Officers learned that while he was in the store a person in a white hoodie, black pants and a mask walked into the store and began shooting. The suspect then ran from the business and got into a stolen gray Dodge Charger with a missing front bumper and Tennessee license plate number 2F4-8Z6.

Anyone with information on this murder, or the whereabouts of the stolen car, is asked to contact CrimeStoppers, 528-CASH (2274).

Crime of the Week #40

December 18, 2020

HOMICIDE

Memphis Police Officers stationed at the Tillman Street precinct responded to a shooting report at 2:30 a.m. Saturday, December 12, 2020 in the 500 block of Belt Line Street near the Liberty Bowl Coliseum.

On arrival the officers found two men who were unresponsive and suffering from gunshot wounds inside a gray vehicle. Travious Hawthorne and Alexander Stewart were pronounced dead on the scene by Memphis Fire Dept. paramedics.

Officers learned that persons nearby heard numerous shots fired and a male wearing black clothing and a mask was seen running from the scene. Because no other information was available, investigators need the public help to solve this double murder.

Anyone with information is asked to contact CrimeStoppers — by phone or text — at 528-CASH (2274).

Crime of the Week #39

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December 11, 2020

HOMICIDE

A Cold Case
Reports of shots fired in the 1800 block of Norfolk Street, west of Mississippi Blvd. in south Memphis, brought Airways Station Memphis Police officers to the scene at 10:30 p.m. Saturday, May 18, 2017.

On arrival officers found Dorothy Jackson inside a house and suffering gunshot wounds to her back. Memphis Fire Dept. paramedics transported her to Regional One Hospital. There she soon was pronounced dead.

Bullets shot from outside Jackson’s home had penetrated windows and walls and struck the victim. Investigators need the public’s help in this homicide. Anyone with information — even the smallest detail — should contact CrimeStoppers at 528-CASH (2274)

Crime of the Week #38

December 4, 2020

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT

A shooting report near Poplar Avenue and Dunlap Street in the medical district brought officers from the Memphis Police Department’s North Main station to the area at 8 p.m. Friday, November 22, 2019. There they learned that an adult female victim who had been shot had driven herself to Le Bonheur’s Emergency Room.

The woman was stabilized and transported to Regional One Hospital in critical condition for long-term care. Officers learned that the woman was walking to her car on Dunlap after leaving work at a medical facility. Two male suspects approached her, attempted to carjack her and she was shot in the struggle. The men fled on foot northbound on Dunlap, westbound on Mosby and northbound on Leath Street to Peach Avenue. Here are descriptions:

Suspect #1 is a male black, five-foot-six to five-foot-eight, light complexioned with freckles. He was wearing a dark hooded jacket and dark shoes. He carried a silver handgun.

Suspect #2 is a male black, five-foot-eight to five-foot-ten. He wore a dark hooded jacket, light-colored pants and light-colored shoes.

Anyone who can help identify one or both suspects is asked to contact CrimeStoppers, 528-CASH (2274).

Crime of the Week #37

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November 27, 2020

SOLVED

A Cold Case
A report of a shooting brought Mt. Moriah station MPD officers to the 4100 block of Cochese Road, south of American Way, at noontime Thursday, November 23, 2017. It was Thanksgiving Day that year.

Inside a home, officers found Robert Wong, 68, suffering from gunshot wounds. A Memphis Fire Department paramedics team arrived and pronounced Wong dead. At the scene officers learned that a home invasion had occurred and the family vehicle was taken. The vehicle was found abandoned the next day.

There is no suspect description. Investigators need the public’s help to solve this murder. Anyone with information, even the smallest detail, should contact CrimeStoppers at 528-CASH (2274).

Crime of the Week #36

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November 20, 2020

HOMICIDE

A Cold Case
The Memphis Police Department received reports of a shooting at Airways Boulevard and Ketchum Road in Frayser at 4:30 pm on Monday, November 13, 2017. Within minutes multiple victims were driven to the MPD Airways station. Officers called the Memphis Fire Department for assistance. In the car officers found 10-year-old Richard Jordan who was suffering from gunshot wounds. He, a 12-year-old and an adult were transported to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. There Richard Jordan later died. The other two survived.

The initial investigation showed that family members and friends were heading northbound in the vehicle and stopped at a traffic light on Airways at Ketchum. Three cars pulled alongside their vehicle and at least three people began firing weapons. The suspects’ vehicles — described as a gold Chevrolet Malibu with missing hubcaps, a black Chrysler 300 and a gray sedan — fled east on Ketchum.

Police need help solving this homicide. Anyone with further information should contact CrimeStoppers, (901) 528-CASH (2274).

Crime of the Week #35

November 13, 2020

HOMICIDE

Memphis Police officers assigned to Crump Station answered a shooting call at 5:26 a.m. Sunday, November 8, 2020. In the 1400 block of E. McLemore Avenue, near Melrose Street, they found an unresponsive gunshot victim inside a vehicle.

Memphis Fire personnel transported Kenneth Laird to Regional One hospital, but he didn’t survive his injuries. Officers learned that Laird was a passenger in a 2003 Ford Crown Victoria which had pulled into a nearby parking lot. While the car’s driver went inside a building, Laird stayed in his seat.

Hearing shots, the driver returned to the car where he found Laird. Detectives need someone to come forward with any information that may help solve this homicide. Contact CrimeStoppers, 528-CASH (2274).

Crime of the Week #34

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November 6, 2020

HOMICIDE

A Cold Case
It was about 6 p.m. on a Friday evening — Halloween — October 31, 2014 when Samuel D. Johnson and a friend walked from the North Frayser Community Center, 2555 St. Elmo Avenue toward the friend’s house.

When they reached the intersection of Wellons Avenue and Glenalp Street in the north Memphis neighborhood Johnson was shot.

It is believed the gunfire came from one or more subjects in a nearby 2010 Mitsubishi Gallant. Johnson died a short time after arriving at the Methodist North Emergency Room.

Cold Case investigators with the Memphis Police Department are asking that any witnesses to the shooting, or anyone with information on who is responsible, to please step forward. Information can be given to CrimeStoppers, (901) 528-CASH (2274). Or call the Cold Case Hotline (901) 636-COLD (2653). Leave a voice message and an investigator will call back.

Crime of the Week #33

October 30, 2020

HOMICIDE

The report of a one-car crash brought Memphis Police officers from the Tillman station to 1524 Tayner Street, just off Chelsea Avenue in the Douglass neighborhood, at 11:20 p.m. Tuesday October 27, 2020.

Arriving officers located a man lying across the front seat of a black Ford pickup. The vehicle had crashed into a fence. Memphis Fire Department paramedics arrived and pronounced the victim, Carl Garrison, dead on the scene from gunshot wounds.

Officers determined that Garrison was driving eastbound on Chelsea when he and his truck were struck by bullets. The truck veered from Chelsea and came to rest in the back yard of a house on Tayner. Two males were seen running from the scene.

Investigators need more information to solve this homicide. Anyone with information is asked to contact CrimeStoppers at 528-CASH (2274). A cash award up to $1,000 is available.

Crime of the Week #32

October 23, 2020

HOMICIDE

It was five minutes after midnight on Sunday, May 24, 2015 when Memphis Police officers assigned to the downtown entertainment district responded to a shooting report on South Fourth Street, near Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. There they found in the street the body of Calvin Wilhite, who had been shot and killed.

Officers learned that the victim had been arguing with two males occupying a light green or gray four-door sedan. It is possible the vehicle was a mid-2000 Dodge Stratus, a Ford Taurus or similar model car.

The suspects were described as male blacks in their early- or mid-20s. The individual thought responsible for shooting Wilhite is described as having a small to medium build. He was wearing a white t-shirt and was sitting on the passenger door frame of the vehicle as it was moving when he fired the fatal shots.

Anyone with information on this homicide is asked to contact CrimeStoppers at 528-CASH (2274) or the Memphis Police Homicide Bureau, 636-3300.