Sixteen people have been killed so far in 2026 in Memphis's Airways precinct, up from 10 at the same point last year — a 60 percent jump that stands out starkly against a citywide murder rate now at its lowest point in years. Most of the violence is concentrated in Orange Mound, a historic neighborhood where police say the killings largely involve people who already know each other, including domestic disputes.
The numbers, first reported by Action News 5, land amid a broader citywide crime picture that looks nothing like it. Memphis has seen overall violent crime fall more than 36 percent year to date, and a Memphis Shelby Crime Commission report found violent crime down 45 percent compared to 2023, the year it peaked near 400 annual homicides. The city's violent crime rate in the first half of 2026 was even 5.2 percent lower than in the first half of 2011 — previously the most recent year Memphis logged its lowest violent crime rate on record.
Memphis Police Department has leaned on a mix of tactics to drive that citywide drop, including focused crime-reduction operations, blight-reduction initiatives, and environmental crime prevention strategies, along with a strategy specifically aimed at identifying and apprehending violent offenders. The department has also increased police visibility in areas with the highest levels of violence and strengthened partnerships with community stakeholders in Orange Mound and Riverside. Homicide investigations citywide carry an 89 percent clearance rate, according to police.
Why the Killings Keep Happening Behind Closed Doors
Police attribute the Airways precinct's homicide spike largely to conflicts between acquaintances rather than street crime or robberies gone wrong — including domestic violence. That distinction matters: a Memphis Shelby Crime Commission report found that while major violent crime dropped 31.5 percent in the first half of 2026, reported domestic violence incidents fell by only 5.7 percent, according to the Daily Memphian. That gap helps explain why aggressive street patrols and task force sweeps — the Memphis Safe Task Force alone has made over 10,000 arrests and recovered 1,708 illegal firearms since a September 2025 executive memorandum from President Donald Trump deployed more than 1,400 Tennessee National Guard members to the city — haven't been enough to stop violence rooted in relationships rather than random encounters.
The University of Memphis Public Safety Institute unveiled an eight-part domestic violence strategic plan for Shelby County in July, introducing rapid-response teams for high-risk cases and electronic lethal danger screening. Memphis Police Department says it is working to address conflicts before they escalate, but the underlying dynamic is one longtime Orange Mound figure knows intimately.
A Neighborhood Anti-Violence Advocate Sees the Pattern Up Close
Keith Leachman, president and founder of Stop the Killing, Cut the Beef, has lived and worked in Orange Mound for decades. He said minor disputes and confusion can escalate into animosity, anger and murder, and that he has personally seen people killed over five dollars and over too many puffs from a marijuana cigarette.
Leachman founded Stop the Killing, Cut the Beef 25 years ago. The organization runs a Cut-the-Blight team that gives convicted felons a second chance through landscaping and roofing trade skills, holds backpack and food giveaways, feeds homeless people, and counts among its success stories people who stayed out of trouble and jail and built families. Leachman said he had been incarcerated more than 20 to 30 times before turning his life around, and he has not been arrested in 30 years.
Leachman said people need skills, trades and a way out of crime, and he plans to open a boxing gym and trade center in Orange Mound — though he said the project needs city and county funding and additional resources to get off the ground. He also pointed to the legal stakes facing violent offenders under Tennessee's Truth in Sentencing law, enacted in 2022, which requires people convicted of violent felonies including second-degree murder, attempted murder and aggravated kidnapping to serve 100 percent of their prison terms without parole eligibility. Leachman said people involved in selling drugs and murder cannot receive Social Security benefits and may face those long sentences.
Residents Weigh Staying Against the Toll of Violence
Judy Netter, 78, has lived in Orange Mound her entire life. She said she is not leaving the neighborhood despite the violence that has touched it for decades — violence memorialized on the Orange Mound Memorial Wall, which has stood for about three years and honors more than 250 people killed in the community over the past 30 years.
Vivian Richmond, who lives in the Airways precinct area, called for more neighborhood watch groups, increased police patrols, and a greater focus on education. Her call for expanded neighborhood watches comes as a June 2026 University of Memphis Public Safety Institute report found active Neighborhood Watch groups across the city grew by 46 percent between April 2025 and April 2026 following door-to-door police outreach.
Orange Mound's identity as a community worth fighting for runs deep. Founded in 1890 on former plantation land, it was the first subdivision in the United States planned specifically for Black homeowners, and by the mid-20th century it had grown into one of the nation's largest Black communities alongside Harlem, according to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. That history helps explain why residents like Netter and Richmond describe staying and organizing, rather than leaving, as the answer to the neighborhood's current violence.
Citywide, the broader numbers underscore just how unusual the Airways precinct's trajectory is. Memphis recorded 184 homicides in 2025, a 26 percent drop from 250 the year before and its first year below 200 annual homicides since 2019, while major property crime fell 40.6 percent and overall firearm offenses dropped 5.7 percent in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period a year earlier, per the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission. Those citywide gains, however, have coincided with a Memphis Police Department that remains roughly 600 officers short of its authorized strength of 2,500 sworn officers, a staffing gap that shapes how visibly police can respond in neighborhoods like Orange Mound even as enforcement pushes crime down elsewhere.
