Target shooting suspect captured
Subdued after chase in Fla., Ga.
Authorities used a stun gun to capture a Memphis firefighter who was on the run from charges he shot and killed his former girlfriend in the parking lot of an East Memphis Target store.
Ronald Ellis, 51, was taken into custody Thursday afternoon after a wild chase that began in Florida and ended in Georgia, U.S. Marshals spokesman Seth Bruce said.
Ellis was wanted for first-degree murder in the death of Torhonda Cathey, 33. Cathey was shot multiple times Monday outside the Target at 601 Colonial; she died Tuesday morning.
According to Bruce, someone spotted Ellis in a fast-food restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida. The Florida Highway Patrol followed his vehicle to Camden County, Georgia, north of Jacksonville. Authorities had to use spiked strips in the road to get Ellis
to stop.
Ellis would not surrender, however, and pulled a firearm. After some negotiation, he dropped the weapon, Bruce said. He still would not submit to arrest, however, forcing officers to use a Taser to subdue him. Ellis will be returned to Memphis to face the charges.
Ellis has a long history of trouble with both police and the Memphis Fire Department. In January, MFD disciplined Ellis for an October 2013 arrest by Olive Branch police in which the firefighter was charged with malicious mischief, domestic violence and stalking in connection with an incident involving Cathey, records show.
Cathey told police that she and Ellis dated for two years, but had been apart for three years. She told police that when she tried to end communication with Ellis, he followed her and called her relentlessly. Cathey told police that Ellis would appear “from nowhere” at her job, home and when she was driving.
In the October incident, she reported Ellis put her “in eminent fear” when he followed her from a fast-food restaurant as she was headed home. He tried to run her off the road, she reported. After an administrative hearing in January, MFD suspended Ellis without pay for 10 days.
Ellis had a previous run-in with a female firefighter-paramedic in 2007 that led to a police report of simple assault. Tina Mathenia said she and Ellis were arguing over duties when he shoved her in the back with his forearm. The report accompanying those accusations states that MFD investigated “other off-duty incidents related to domestic violence involving women that required police involvement.”