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| Photo Credit: AP |
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man accused of killing four people and wounding three others in a livestreamed shooting rampage that paralyzed Memphis and led to a city-wide manhunt was granted a public defender during Friday morning court appearance and will remain jailed on a first-degree murder charge.
Ezekiel
Kelly, 19, told a judge he could not afford a lawyer for accusations in
Wednesday’s attack that caused panic and fear across the city.
Additional
charges are expected. District Attorney Steve Mulroy said outside court that
bond is not warranted due to the violent nature of the alleged crimes.
The
hours-long rampage had police warning residents to shelter in place, locking
down a baseball stadium and university campuses and suspending public bus
services as frightened residents wondered where the man might strike next.
Kelly was arrested late Wednesday after crashing a stolen car while fleeing
police.
The violence
unfolded just a few months after Kelly was released early from a three-year
prison sentence for a pair of shootings in 2020.
The
bloodshed played out as the city was still reeling from the brutal killing of
jogger Eliza Fletcher who was abducted during her early morning run less than a
week earlier.
“This has been a horrific week for the city of
Memphis,” Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said.
Authorities
offered no explanation Thursday of a possible motive. Nor did they say how
Kelly managed to obtain the gun or guns used in the attacks.
The Shelby County
public defender’s office did not return a call seeking comment on Kelly’s case.
Memphis has
also been shaken by other high-profile killings in recent weeks, including the
shooting of a pastor during a daylight carjacking in her driveway and the shooting
of an activist during an argument over money.
Mayor Jim
Strickland told reporters Thursday he was outraged that Kelly had been released
early from prison in March after pleading guilty last year to aggravated
assault charges.
“This is no
way for us to live, and it is not acceptable,” said Strickland, who later
pounded the podium as he demanded accountability. He added: “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.”
In February
2020, Kelly, then 17, was charged as an adult with attempted first-degree
murder and other crimes in two shootings committed a few hours apart. Both
victims survived but did not cooperate with prosecutors, according to court
records, and Kelly pleaded guilty to reduced charges of aggravated assault in
April 2021.
Kelly was
sentenced to three years in prison, but was released in March after serving
just over two years behind bars, including credit he received for time he was
jailed prior to his plea.
Juvenile
Court records reviewed by The Associated Press showed both shootings took place
when it was dark outside and when both victims were helping other people move.
Gunshots came from a car with more than one person inside on both occasions,
records showed.
The man who
was shot in the chest testified he was hit while trying to take cover and the
shots lasted five minutes. He positively identified Kelly in court, records
showed.
“Given the
defendant’s age, previous contacts with the Court and the nature of the
delinquent acts, the Court does not believe there is specific time to
rehabilitate the child by use of procedures, services and facilities available
to the Court in this state,” a court order said.
Months
before his release, Kelly was denied parole in September 2021.
Ahead of
that decision, he said at a parole board hearing that he had left high school
during 11th grade because he had an anger management problem. On an assessment
for inmate risks and needs, a parole hearing official said he scored high for
“violent,” according to a recording of the hearing.
“I was going
to anger management,” Kelly, then 18, said at the hearing. “I didn’t know how
to cope with it at the time because I was a teenager.”
He said he
had been “affiliated” – meaning, with a gang – but wasn’t anymore, saying, “as
I got older, I separated myself from that type of groups.” He said he
previously worked at a fast-food restaurant and a poetry club.
At the time,
his fiancée wrote a letter to parole officials, saying the couple had talked
about Kelly going to trade school and starting a new life.
In
recommending against parole, the hearing officer in part cited “the seriousness
of your offense, being that someone was shot – I know that you said that you
weren’t there – but you do have the conviction.”
Associated
Press writer Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this
report.