A basketball game in Memphis' Westwood neighborhood spiraled into violence on Saturday, leaving three victims with gunshot wounds. The Memphis Police Department responded to the scene at O.L. Cash Park around 5:25 pm, where two adult males and one teenager had been shot at Ford Road and Deerskin Drive, according to Action News 5.
Initial reports had indicated that the three were in critical condition, but authorities later updated the teen's status to non-critical. The adults continue to fight for their lives at Regional One Hospital. The confrontation was seemingly triggered by an altercation during a neighborhood basketball game. An ongoing investigation suggests that multiple people might have been involved in the incident, as numerous shell casings were discovered at the park, as stated by the FOX13 Memphis report.
In a harrowing account, a 9-year-old witness recounted the terrifying moments to WREG, “We had saw the shooting,” stated Madison McQueen. “Me and my cousins, we had heard it and ducked down, and I was scared for my life. I was crying.” An anonymous witness described hurriedly coming to the aid of one victim by tying up his wounded leg.
The community, known as Indian Hill, is struggling to make sense of the violence. “It’s absolutely disgusting. It’s terrible,” Russell Harris told FOX13, noting that he was present at the game but had departed before the shooting. The child witness added, “They were just playing, and I guess they got mad. They just started shooting at each other. I didn’t see why, but I saw when they started shooting at each other.” MPD has detained one male in connection with the shooting, though further details about suspects or the precise cause of the altercation have yet to be released.
