Memorial services to honor the life of Ellie Young, the 22-year-old medical student who was tragically killed at Shelby Farms Park, are scheduled for this weekend. Visitation for Young will be today, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Ripley First United Methodist Church, as reported by FOX13 Memphis. The funeral service will occur tomorrow at 1 p.m. at the same church in Ripley, Tennessee.
Young, described as a passionate individual known to bring others joy was studying at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She was participating in a charity walk for the American Cancer Society when she was shot last Saturday. In sharing details from her obituary, Local Memphis mentioned her positive impact on the community with words reflecting a youthful and benevolent spirit, encapsulated in her message to her Chi O sorority sisters: "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."
Her alleged assailant, ex-boyfriend Jackson Hopper, is facing a first-degree murder charge. Following a cross-county police pursuit, he was apprehended in Dyer County. In addition to the murder charge, Hopper has been charged with reckless driving, aggravated assault, resisting arrest, and possession of a firearm in the commission of a dangerous felony, as Action News 5 stated. District Attorney Steve Mulroy sought to deny him bond, and Hopper remains detained in Shelby County pending a bond hearing.
Loved ones have been expressive in their grief and their admiration for Young. "Ellie was kind. Ellie was genuine, she was passionate, determined and she was selfless. Ellie embodied all things that someone could ask for in a friend and more," Hollie McMillan, a family member, told Action News 5. Young's ambition to heal and comfort as a physician was cut short, making her passing a profound loss to the potential of what could have been not only for her patients but for the broader medical community.
