Live streaming gunman kills four

Police in Memphis, in the US state of Tennessee, have arrested a suspect who allegedly spent hours driving around the city shooting at people while live streaming his deadly actions.

The shooting spree and carjackings started after midnight on Wednesday and came to an end when the suspect was apprehended by officers following a high-speed chase, which started at around 9:00pm, local time according to Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn CJ Davis.

The black male suspect has been identified as Ezekiel Kelly, 19. Over the day, he allegedly killed four people and injured three others, one of them critically, the police said. He is also accused of carjacking several vehicles.

The gunman live streamed some parts of the rampage on Facebook and Instagram, local media reported. One of the videos purportedly broadcast by Kelly appears to shows him walking into an AutoZone shop and shooting a man. The victim has been treated in hospital for a wound to his abdomen.

Authorities issued a shelter-in-place alert after the AutoZone incident, which was the fourth shooting. Kelly reportedly crashed the last car he stole after being chased by officers for about half an hour.

Kelly has a criminal history, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said during a press conference. He was charged with first first-degree murder and pleaded guilty to a lesser crime of aggravated assault in April 2021. He was sentenced to three years, of which he served just 11 months and was released in late March this year.

“If Mr Kelly served his full three-year sentence, he would still be in prison today, and four of our fellow citizens would still be alive,” the mayor stressed.

During the hours of terror in Memphis, the city transport authority suspended bus and trolley services as police searched for the gunman. The University of Memphis and Rhodes College put their campuses on lockdown amid the manhunt.