Shootings leave three dead, one critically wounded

In an unusually bloody start to the weekend and summer season, three people were killed and another critically wounded in three separate shootings that occurred within a two-and-a-half hour period before dawn Saturday, Memphis police said.

The shootings took place at 2:34, 3:45 and 4:52 a.m., with the first reported near Gaisman Park, just south of the Kingsbury area, the second outside a McDonald’s restaurant near Park and Ridgeway and the third in South Memphis, just west of the old Defense Depot Memphis.

Authorities have not released the identities of any victims.

Police detained suspects in the shooting at the McDonald’s at 1325 Ridgeway and the one on the 800 block of Sumter in South Memphis.

There was no description or other information on a suspect, however, in the shooting on the 2300 block of Silver Cove, near Gaisman Park. In that case, a 66-year-old victim was pronounced dead at the scene and 21-year-old was transported to Regional Medical Center at Memphis in critical condition.

In the second shooting, a preliminary investigation by police indicated that two males were in a Jeep Cherokee at the drivein window at the McDonald’s when an unknown male opened the rear door and attempted to enter the vehicle. One of the occupants, a 29-year-old man, shot the intruder. He was detained at the scene, but no charges have been filed.

The shooting in South Memphis occurred in an argument between a 49-year- old woman and her 53-year-old husband, police said. The woman was shot as they struggled over a gun. The husband was detained, but no charges have been filed.