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Ezekiel Kelly terrorized Memphis for roughly 20 hours. It took three years to reach a resolution.

By , Daily Memphian Published: August 16, 2025 4:00 AM CT

On Sept. 7, 2022, a 19-year-old Ezekiel Kelly terrorized Memphis.

It’s not an exaggeration to say most Memphians “remember where they were,” so to speak, when Kelly went on a daylong shooting spree during which he killed three people and wounded three others. His actions, some of which he livestreamed on Facebook, caused city leadership to issue a “shelter-in-place” order while law enforcement worked to capture him.

Kelly’s crime spree dealt another blow to a city already reeling from the kidnapping and killing of local teacher Eliza Fletcher just days earlier.

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Aarron Fleming

Aarron Fleming

Aarron Fleming covers public safety for The Daily Memphian, focusing on crime and the local court system. He earned his bachelor’s in journalism and strategic media from the University of Memphis.

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