The funeral procession that descended hunter Avenue in North Memphis on Saturday afternoon featured a horse-drawn carriage and other people walking alongside vehicles, like a parade. Joe Elliott, 51, said he and his wife left their home to see the “He was beautiful, man,” he said.
Suddenly, he shot at mourners, killing a 16-year-old boy later known to his mother as a Southwind High School student named Emmit Beasley, who also used the rapper nickname PSO Emmit. The shooting also seriously injured another person, police said.
“Everyone started running,” Elliott said. The little guys were screaming and crying. “He described a cloud of smoke and noise that looked like a war. He said that when he and his wife fled to a domain a house, they almost hit a guy armed with an attack rifle, which he said was the shooter. “it’s a blessing that he didn’t shoot us. “
After the shooting, he said he saw other people arrive with military-style rifles. “It’s like the wild Oeste. La people were coming out of the bushes. I had never noticed anything like this in my life. ” he thinks they might have been attacking the shooter.
He and his wife escaped and ended up in a vacant lot where he called 911. He had taken his video camera to record the funeral procession, but said he had the possibility to start filming before filming. his words to the dispatcher: “We want police officers like now, right now!There’s a big shootout in Springdale and Hunter Street!”
He said he later saw the boy mendacity on the street and they got close enough to see what looked like a catastrophic gunshot wound to the boy’s head.
The excessive violence at the funeral parade was another painful reminder of the ongoing combat in the Memphis area against the shootings. The city experienced more than 330 murders in 2020, a record.
Earlier this month, the city had already noticed about 240 murders in 2021, a figure that includes intentional homicides, justifiable homicides, driving homicides and cases. A large number of young people and teenagers have been killed or injured in recent years. Another shooting near Kingsbury High School on Monday left 3 other young people injured.
The police branch released some main points about the funeral parade shooting, and the number of suspects and the precise chain of occasions were still unclear on Monday. The swearing-in teenager had starred in rap videos in which he brandished an arsenal of firearms, it’s unclear to what extent those videos reflect genuine life, and the motive for the shooting is unknown.
Elliott, the resident who described calling 911, said the community is not safe and wants more surveillance cameras and more police patrols. He is helping an anti-crime organization called Freedom From Unnecess Negatives, or F. F. U. N.
“Man, I’m just looking for those kids to lay down their arms. Because it’s very important,” he said.
Joanna Ingram, 45, lives in the community and says she went out to see the funeral procession.
She remembers seeing a teenager at the parade. “I saw him walking with them. And then all of a sudden, the shots rang out and got me out of the way. “She said she heard about 20 gunshots in total, but she I didn’t see who fired them.
When the shooting stopped, he looked back and began recording videos on his phone, the videos showing the mendacity of the teenager in his appearance on the street, with a policewoman kneeling next to him. the teenager’s head.
Ingram said he then spoke near the scene of the shooting with the affected teen’s mother, who told him his rap nickname PSO Emmit, and that he was attending the funeral of another young man.
The identity coincides with an interview the victim’s mother, Chasity Graham, gave to WREG on Saturday; he said his son Emmit Beasley, a Southwind High School student and aspiring rapper, has died.
“I sat in a church and prayed because I felt the mother’s pain knowing that within 30 minutes of leaving that church, she would take her position, my son would be killed at her son’s funeral,” she told WREG.
The business call may not be successful on the victim’s mother, but a Facebook page below her call included articles about the murder.
“I now know almost everything about Facebook and the city knows that my son Emmit Beasley, the up-and-coming rapper PSO Emmit, was killed today at a friend’s funeral,” one report read. “If someone has video footage or knows something, can you send me an inbox, my son Emmit left too early, I love you and always #PSOEMMIT”
The call of the user who attended the funeral and the cases of death of that user were not clear without delay.
The Shelby County School System showed the deaths of a Southwind High student and a Bolton High student earlier this month, but did not disclose additional details.
PSO Emmit was not a well-known rapper, however, Youtube lists several music videos in which he appears. Some of the videos appear to be professionally produced and show photographs of gangsters, with the teenager built and others waving piles of cash and brandishing weapons.
A video first posted on Youtube on October 15, according to the website, the video begins with a symbol of the teenager holding 3 guns at once and pointing them at the camera. automatic rifle without a butt and punches, “I shoot first, I don’t let (people) kill me. “
As with rap videos, it’s unclear to what extent it was an artistic narrative and to what extent it really reflected the teen’s life.
Police said on Twitter that the suspects fled in a black Jeep and asked with details to call 901-528-CASH or 901-528-2278.
Investigative journalist Daniel Connolly welcomes public comments and comments. Contact him at 529-5296, daniel. connolly@commercialappeal. com, or on Twitter at @danielconnolly