In response to the chaos that erupted at an illegal block party in Orange Mound last month, where nine individuals were shot, Memphis Police have made a series of arrests. Yesterday, Interim Police Chief C.J. Davis told city council members that while those arrested are believed to be involved in the incident, they have been detained on unrelated charges.
Further mired by confusing reports, initially, 16 victims had been cited by authorities, but that number was later corrected to nine. "The arrests that we've made in the Orange Mound shootings could not be, and I don't want to get too deep into the investigation ... are for other charges [on] individuals that we believe were involved in the Orange Mound shooting," said Chief Davis in the meeting. This clarification came during a council session where Councilwoman Jerri Green pressed for answers, according to Local Memphis.
Amid rising public safety concerns, Chief Davis alluded to the use of Operation Code Zero as a stance against crime, referring to it as a “collaborative crime-fighting tool.” Despite the recent violence, significant statistical drops in major crimes compared to last year were presented to the council, with Part 1 crimes having decreased nearly 21 percent, as detailed in coverage by WREG. Nonetheless, Green's inquiries unearthed discrepancies in the reported numbers of homicides, with the department's website figures not matching those provided in the meeting.
However, Davis avoided further commentary, upon being approached by WREG after the meeting, citing a pending engagement with the Mayor. There have been a marked increase, from $15,000 to $25,000, in the total reward amount offered for valuable information leading to the arrest of the culprits, as reported by Action News 5. The shooters remain at large, with authorities continuing their investigation, hoping that the combined efforts of CrimeStoppers, the Memphis City Council, and the U.S. Marshals Service will yield results in the harrowing case that claimed the lives of two individuals, 17-year-old Antonio Humphrey and 22-year-old Chalmar Fason, and left seven others wounded.
