DA: Shooting of Memphis man with BB gun justified

The shooting death of a Memphis man who was waving a BB gun at motorists in Raleigh by a Memphis police officer was justified, Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich said Friday.

Andre Horton, 42, was shot and killed by a MPD officer on Dec. 13, 2018.

Memphis police responded to two separate 911 calls about a man walking in the middle of James Road in Raleigh. The callers said the man pointed a handgun at them as they drove by him.

When officers arrived at the scene around 10 p.m., Horton walked towards them and pointed the gun at the officers, who were driving marked patrol cars. It was “a realistic-looking air pistol that the 911 callers described as ‘a semi-automatic’ and ‘a 45-cal.’ handgun,” the DA’S office said.

“One officer said he had to put his vehicle in reverse because he ‘felt like a sitting duck’ in the gunman’s sights,” according to a release from Weirich’s office. “He said Horton then turned his attention to another officer who arrived from the opposite direction on James Road. That officer said he put his spotlight on Horton and ordered him to drop his gun, but that Horton advanced to within 20 feet with his gun still pointed at the officer.”

The officer then fired his gun, striking Horton in the chest and grazing his neck and abdomen. Horton was taken to Regional One Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The shooting was captured on the officer’s body camera.

The day after the shooting, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed Horton had a BB gun.

One of the 911 callers, whose name was redacted in TBI reports, provided a statement to police and said they were driving and had to swerve from the middle lane into the left lane to avoid hitting Horton. The person said Horton was pointing a gun, which the witness said was chrome or silver and looked to be a semiautomatic, at the vehicle in from of theirs and then pointed it at the caller’s vehicle.

The driver said they called the police as they drove away and took their son, who was in the vehicle, to work at the Circle K on Germantown Parkway and then called the police again as they did not feel safe going home.

A statement from a second individual who called 911, whose name was also redacted, said they saw a man standing in the road with a gun.

“These officers were responding to the concerns of panicked motorists about a man pointing a gun at them,” Weirich said. “He not only ignored an order to drop the weapon, but he also continued to walk toward the officers while pointing the gun at them. Mr. Horton left the officer with no choice but to discharge his weapon.”