Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed the CEO of the Tennessee Firearms Association, John Harris in studio to comment upon the body cam video of Tyre Nichols who was murdered Thursday evening by five Memphis police officers.
Read the full story
The City of Memphis and the Memphis Police Department recently invited residents and businesses of Memphis to participate in a new public safety initiative aimed at fighting crime.
Read the full story
A former Memphis Police officer was sentenced to more than a decade in prison after pleading guilty to several crimes.
On January 24, 2020, former Memphis Police Officer Sam Blue 63, pled guilty to conspiracy to violate civil rights by using force, violence, and intimidation, and conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce,” said a press release from the Department of Justice (DOJ). “On October 25, 2022, United States District Court Judge John T. Fowlkes Jr. sentenced Blue to 144 months in federal prison to be followed by three years’ supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.”
Read the full story
A social media trend that began on the popular app TikTok is taking its toll on the streets of Memphis, according to that city’s police chief.
As auto thefts soar in Memphis, Police Chief CJ Davis reportedly said the “Kia Boys” are partly to blame.
Read the full story
During a public safety committee, on Tuesday, The Memphis City Council discussed strictly enforcing the Memphis curfew for children 17 and under.
Vice Chairman Martavius Jones said, “Juvenile Crime has spiked over the years…I commend our men and women in blue for all that they are doing. However, the things that are on the books, we definitely want to make those things happen…One thing that we do know, if they are in the house, a lot of this wouldn’t be happening. If they [children] were at home, under parental supervision, some of these things wouldn’t be happening.”
Read the full story
The Memphis Police Department (MPD) Monday confirmed that it did not shut down a drag show at the Memphis Museum of Science and History (MoSH), but that the museum canceled the event due to protests.
“Management of the Pink Palace chose to cancel all events [Friday], MPD Public Information Officer Theresa Carlson told The Tennessee Star. “MPD was asked to assist. No incidents occurred and no arrests were made.”
Read the full story
The city of Memphis Friday refused to comment on the lawsuit filed against it by the woman who says she was raped by Cleotha Abston, the man accused of abducting and killing Eliza Fletcher.
“We do not comment on pending litigation,” said Arlenia Cole, the city’s Media Affairs Manager.
Read the full story
According to data provided to The Tennessee Star by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), the average time it takes for the state law enforcement agency to conduct analysis on sexual assault kits (SAKs) submitted to it by local law enforcement is 45 weeks.
That figure accounts for SAKs that are reviewed by TBI’s Jackson crime lab. In its Nashville lab, TBI tests and analyzes SAKs in about 25 weeks. In its Knoxville lab, that figure is around 30 weeks.
Read the full story
In a statement provided Tuesday to The Tennessee Star, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) said it followed standard procedure on securing and testing a sexual assault kit (SAK) in a case related to Cleotha Abston, who is also accused of kidnapping and murdering Eliza Fletcher.
The following is part of TBI’s statement:
Read the full story
New details have emerged about more alleged crimes committed by the suspect in Eliza Fletcher’s brutal kidnapping and murder.
Cleotha Abston has been charged separately in an aggravated rape and aggravated kidnapping case stemming from September of 2021. He is also charged in that case with unlawful carrying or possession of a weapon.
Read the full story
Glenda Adams, a member of the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office in Memphis accepted money from a local attorney to provide him with information restricted only to law enforcement. That information concerned traffic accident reports.
Read the full story
The Memphis Police Department (MPD) Friday is mourning the loss of an officer who died in a car crash while on duty.
“Memphis police officers and a citizen collided in this intersection, and at this particular time, we’ve got the Tennessee Highway Patrol that’s out here that is taking control of this investigation,” Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis said in a press conference from the scene of the crash Thursday.
Read the full story
The Memphis Police Department (MPD) reported that the city had a violent Christmas Eve and a violent Christmas day, including four homicides. MPD officials tweeted about one shooting homicide that occurred at 2:26 a.m. Saturday at the 1000 block of Haynes Street. Authorities transported the shooting victim to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, where staff pronounced him deceased. MPD officials said they had no information about a suspect.
Read the full story
Memphis had a violent Halloween weekend, including three homicides, according to the Memphis Police Department (MPD).
Around 10 a.m. Sunday, MPD officers responded to a shooting at the 400 block of Laclede Avenue, where they found two male shooting victims dead inside of a vehicle. MPD officers tweeted that they have not identified any suspects in the killings.
Read the full story
Officials with the Memphis Police Department have reported five additional murders in the city in the past week. The victims were either shot or stabbed.
Read the full story
Memphis launched its Group Violence Intervention Program (GVIP) in an effort to reduce violent crimes – namely, gun violence. Officials described it as a “proactive, holistic plan” that adopted models that had purportedly been successful in other cities, though it didn’t specify which ones.
According to the plan, the GVIP will have a czar overseeing three separate branches: a “focused deterrence” coordinator that works with organizations such as the police and social service agencies; a data, policy, community action coordinator that arranges volunteers for various community events; and an intervention coordinator that oversees the outreach workers and violence interrupters.
Read the full story
A member of the Memphis Police Department (MPD) has been arrested and charged with the kidnapping and murder of another man while on duty.
According to a press release posted to MPD’s Twitter account, Officer Patric Ferguson has been charged with First Degree Murder, First Degree Murder in Perpetration of Aggravated Kidnapping, Especially Aggravated Kidnapping, Abuse of a Corpse, and Fabricating and Tampering With Evidence in the alleged murder of 30-year-old Robert Howard.
Read the full story
Federal officials in Memphis have sentenced a man, already a felon, to prison for possessing a firearm, possessing a controlled substance with intent to distribute, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
This, according to a press release that officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee published on their website this week.
Read the full story
The Memphis Police Department this weekend reported shootings that injured six people as well as additional shootings that killed four people.
On top of that, Memphis Police also reported that one person in the city used his vehicle to intentionally run over and kill another person.
Read the full story
The Memphis Police Department has decided to stop using “no-knock” warrants in the wake of the fatal shooting of a black Kentucky woman by narcotics detectives who burst into her home.
Memphis police spokeswoman Karen Rudolph said the move to eliminate no-knock warrants had been a source of discussion since the death of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, who was killed in March after police detectives smashed through her front door while serving a drug warrant in Louisville.
Read the full story