Homicides rise 30% over 2019
Officials urge action after 18 youths killed
Homicides in Memphis are up more than 30% percent compared to this time last year. While the number is alarming, a different statistic is even more brutal — 18 children and teens have been killed in 2020.
So far this year, 120 Memphians have been killed in unjustifiable homicides, up from 92 at the same point last year, per city data.
Officials in Memphis begged the public Wednesday for both information and further community involvement in measures like neighborhood watches and community programming.
“When we lose a child, before they even know what life is, before they can take advantage of what is out there, is almost unbearable,” Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said at the morning press conference.
Of the 18 children and teens killed this year, 14 were murdered and three were killed in accidental shootings. One death was ruled as a justifiable homicide.
Strickland said there are eight ongoing investigations that involve child victims, including ones from a violent Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, when Jadon Knox, 10, Lequan Boyd, 16, and Ashlynn Luckett, 6, were murdered within 48 hours of each another.
Boyd and Luckett, both Collierville students, were killed after stray bullets pierced through the walls of a relative’s home in Hickory Hill. Boyd was in the shower when the shooting occurred. Luckett, who was also Boyd’s niece, was playing on her ipad.
Knox, a boy who smiled so much her was awarded the “Kool-aid Smile Award,” was gunned down near the front door of his Orange Mound home, while playing in the yard.
‘Where’s the outrage for their lives?’
Following Strickland’s brief remarks, Memphis Police Department Col. Darren Goods read the names of other children fatally shot in Memphis:
Jalen Dodge, 17, was gunned down in March as he walked from his mother’s house to his father’s house.
Aison Golden, 7, was gunned down in April inside his house on Par Avenue.
Tyler Williams, 17, was brought to a firehouse in April by his friends after he was shot. He later died at Regional One Hospital.
Tyrell Jones, 15, was shot and killed alongside another passenger in a car while riding down Barron Avenue.
“Nine months. Two years old. Three years old. Five. Six. I can go on,” said Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings. “Seven years old. Nine. Ten. Twelve. Fifteen years old. Seventeen years old.
“These are not random numbers, these are the ages of the 18 children that have lost their life.”
While Wednesday’s conference was equal parts a plea for help from the public, and a moment for Memphians to learn more about the children who have died among them — Rallings also asked a question that’s he asked before.
“Where’s the outrage for their lives?” Rallings asked, seemingly referring to the recent spate of protests in Memphis and the rest of the nation.
The protests have called for sweeping changes to the way police departments are funded and how their officers interact with the public.
“Recently the focus has been on police reform,” Rallings said. “There have been meetings, conversations, focus on what law enforcement is doing wrong, and how law enforcement has changed. There have even been those fighting for defunding the police.”
He said that police reform was “inevitable” and reassured the public they were working on policy changes.
“But the change cannot stop with police,” Rallings said, imploring citizens to “get off of the sidelines” about violence within their own communities.
“Where are the meetings, and where are the conversations, and where are the protests for these victims?”
Rallings, who said Memphis is on course to pass the record 228 homicides tallied in 2016, begged the community to take more responsibility for each other. He also took the opportunity to talk about dwindling officer numbers in the police department, drawing a comparison to 2011, when the city had more than 2,500 officers.
“That year was the lowest homicide numbers we’ve seen, and the lowest (amount of) crime we’ve seen,” Rallings said.
And while he mentioned recent protests that have pushed for a reallocation of funding from police to other facets of community wellness — such as public transit or public education, he rebuked reporters who brought up questions about police reforms during Wednesday’s briefing.
“We’re here to talk about murders,” Rallings said.
If you have any information about the deaths of the children mentioned in this story, or any information about an ongoing homicide investigation, please call Crime Stoppers at 901-528-2274.
Micaela A Watts is a breaking news reporter for The Commercial Appeal, and can be reached through her email, micaela.watts@commercialappeal.com.