Memphis Jury Convicts Man in Stray-Bullet Killing of 8-Year-Old Jordyn Washington

A Shelby County jury has convicted a 47-year-old man in the 2020 shooting death of 8-year-old Jordyn Washington, who was killed by a stray rifle round while standing next to her grandmother in the kitchen of her family's northeast Memphis apartment. Cedric Conley was found guilty of reckless homicide, criminal attempt: voluntary manslaughter, felon in possession of a handgun, employing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony, and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon — nearly six years after the shooting that shook the city three days before Thanksgiving in 2020.

The shooting happened on November 22, 2020, at an apartment complex in the 5200 block of Shelbourne Circle in northeast Memphis, according to Action News 5. Federal court filings published in June 2025 indicate Conley was a non-resident visiting his niece's apartment at Highland Chateau when he got into an argument with his ex-girlfriend in the parking lot, according to court records. Witnesses said Conley retrieved an assault-style rifle from the apartment and fired at a group of people gathered in the parking lot amid the dispute.

Inside a nearby unit, Jordyn Washington's grandmother was preparing dinner while the girl stood beside her near the refrigerator. One of the rounds penetrated the apartment wall and struck the 8-year-old, killing her, while another round entered a separate apartment. Memphis police were dispatched to the scene at roughly 3:50 p.m. that Sunday and found Washington deceased inside her home, according to police records cited in the case file tracked under report #2011009552ME.

From First-Degree Murder Charge to Reduced Convictions

A Shelby County grand jury indicted Conley in March 2021 on first-degree murder in the perpetration of a felony along with multiple counts of criminal attempt: first-degree murder — charges far more serious than what the jury ultimately convicted him of this month. The Shelby County District Attorney's Office had assigned the case to Assistant District Attorney Cavett Ostner of its Domestic Violence Unit, since the gunfire stemmed from an intimate-partner argument in the parking lot.

The gap between the original indictment and the final verdict is significant under Tennessee law. Reckless homicide is a Class D felony carrying a sentencing range of 2 to 12 years in prison, while first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment or life without parole. Conley's sentencing has been scheduled for September 24, 2026, according to the Shelby County District Attorney's Office, per Action News 5's reporting.

Manhunt Ended in New Orleans Two Weeks Later

After the shooting, Conley fled Memphis and was eventually tracked to New Orleans, where he was placed on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Most Wanted list before being apprehended roughly two weeks later and extradited back to Memphis to face charges.

The case took nearly six years to reach a verdict in part because Conley's first trial, held in March 2025, ended in a mistrial. Local Memphis reported that the judge declared the mistrial after new, previously unrecorded evidence was introduced during the proceedings, forcing prosecutors to prepare for a second trial before the case could be resolved this August.

Lawsuit Points to Years of Violence at the Complex

Jordyn Washington's death has also become part of a broader legal fight over safety conditions at Highland Chateau. Her parents filed a federal civil lawsuit against the apartment complex's owners, Highland Chateau 5776 LLC and Multi-South Management Services LLC, and court records unsealed in June 2025 showed Memphis police had been called to the property at least 94 times for violent criminal incidents — including murder, robbery, carjacking, and assault — in the three years before the shooting.

The killing also landed amid one of the deadliest years in Memphis history. The city recorded a historic 332 homicides in 2020, with more than 30 of the victims being children, according to police data reported at the time. Jordyn Washington's death became one of the cases that came to define that grim toll for a city still reckoning with gun violence spilling into homes, playgrounds, and parking lots.