Bartlett police ID teen killed near fireworks show

The Bartlett Police Department has identified the victim who was fatally shot near a fireworks show this week as 17-year-old Jaylon Cohen.

The teenager died following a shooting Tuesday night at a Taco Bell at 7571 Highway 70. Many people attending the nearby Bartlett fireworks show reported on social media that they heard the shots.

And the department released an arrest affidavit that says multiple fireworks spectators saw the shooting, including one witness who said he saw the attacker “shoot the victim one time and when he fell, stood directly over him and unload multiple shots.”

The Bartlett police department has said the suspect and the victim knew each other, and that the shooting resulted from a fight that escalated in the restaurant’s parking lot.

Police interviewed the victim’s girlfriend, who recalled seeing an Instagram social media video the day of the shooting in which several people taunted the victim and let him know they were looking for him, according to the arrest affidavit.

Bartlett authorities have charged one of the people in the video – 18-year-old Kendrell Spight – with first degree murder and employing a dangerous firearm during a felony. (The police department spells his first name as Kentrell in the affidavit.)

Spight was arrested at his home in Cordova and waived his right to remain silent, the affidavit said.

He told police he was on the Taco Bell parking lot, happened to be wearing clothes similar to those of the shooter – though his description was slightly different than what witnesses gave – and that he fled at the sound of shots.

“Spight also admitted to sending Instagram messages to the victim during a dispute,” the affidavit says.

A witness identified Spight from a photo lineup and said he was the shooter, according to the affidavit.

No one else has been arrested yet, and the investigation continues, Capt. Tina Schaber wrote in an email.

The police department has asked anyone with information to call 901385-5565.

Schaber said it was the first homicide this year in Bartlett.

Reach reporter Daniel Connolly at 529-5296, daniel.connolly@commercial appeal.com, or on Twitter at @danielconnolly.