A routine Saturday night store run at the Austin Peay Walmart turned into a crime scene after a handgun went off inside a parked car, sending a bullet into another shopper's vehicle and leaving the gun's owner with a wounded hand, according to Memphis police.
Officers say the man behind the trigger was 23-year-old Elijah Jones, who later showed up at Methodist North Hospital with a gunshot wound to his hand. A woman sitting inside her 2013 Audi A4 told police the rear passenger side of her car was struck by the round.
Police: how the shot was fired and what they found
Police were called a little after 7 p.m. to the Walmart in the 3900 block of Austin Peay Highway for reports of a shooting. In the parking lot, officers say they found a white Chevrolet with a man inside whose hand appeared to be injured.
Investigators report they recovered a Smith & Wesson handgun on the front passenger seat and found spent shell casings on the floorboard. The Chevrolet is registered to Jones, police say.
Jones told officers the gun went off as he picked it up from beneath the seat. He is charged with “reckless endangerment: firearm discharged from within a motor vehicle” and is being held on a $100,000 bond, with a court date set for Tuesday morning, according to WREG.
Where it happened
The Austin Peay Walmart Supercenter is listed at 3950 Austin Peay Hwy, just north of Raleigh. The lot sits roughly a third of a mile from Methodist North Hospital, according to Walmart's store listing.
Methodist North's campus information places the hospital at 3960 New Covington Pike, backing up the nearby emergency care location described in police reports.
Context: guns and parked cars
Public-safety advocates have long warned that guns left in or handled in vehicles can lead to thefts and negligent discharges like this one, turning parking lots into unexpected danger zones. Local researchers have also flagged gun incidents tied to vehicles as a recurring headache for Memphis.
Analysis from Everytown for Gun Safety lists Memphis among the cities with the highest rates of firearms stolen from cars, a trend that advocates say feeds guns into other crimes across the city.
Charges and next steps
Police say Jones faces the reckless-endangerment charge for firing the gun from inside the vehicle and remains in custody on a $100,000 bond. His next court appearance is set for Tuesday morning, according to WREaaG. The Memphis Police Department says the investigation is ongoing and has not released further details on what led up to the discharge.
Officials say the case remains active and that updates will be shared through standard channels as new information becomes available. Hoodline will continue tracking the court docket and local reporting for developments in the coming days.
