A shooting inside a South Memphis market on Sunday left a man and a child wounded, both shot in the leg, according to police. A 19-year-old, Ambrose Ramsey Jr., was arrested and charged in the gunfire at Village Mart on South Bellevue Boulevard. He remains in jail on a $250,000 bond.
Roughly 10 other customers were inside the store when the shooting began, according to WMC. Police allege Ramsey used a Glock pistol fitted with a switch, a device that allows the weapon to fire multiple rounds rapidly, before fleeing the scene. Officers arriving at the market found the wounded child on the floor with a gunshot wound to the leg.
Wounded Man Told Police He Made Eye Contact With Shooter
The wounded man told investigators he made eye contact with the shooter just before the gunfire started, per the same account, and said he believed he was the intended target. Ramsey allegedly fired multiple rounds and left the scene immediately afterward.
Ramsey was charged with attempted first-degree murder, employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, possession of a prohibited weapon and reckless endangerment, the outlet reported. The most serious of those counts alone carries significant prison exposure under state law.
Charges Could Mean Decades Behind Bars Under Tennessee Law
Attempted first-degree murder is classified as a Class A felony in Tennessee, carrying a sentence of 15 to 60 years depending on a defendant's prior criminal history, according to Justia Law. That range applies before factoring in any additional time from the firearm and weapons charges Ramsey also faces.
The firearm charge carries its own mandatory minimum of six years, which state law requires be served at 100% release eligibility and run consecutively to any sentence for the underlying felony, per Freeman & Fuson. The prohibited weapon charge, tied to the alleged Glock switch, is a Class E felony punishable by one to six years in prison, according to FastDemocracy.
Glock Switches Fuel Violence Along the Bellevue Corridor
Devices like the one Ramsey is accused of using aren't rare finds for local officers. The Memphis Police Department estimated in 2024 that officers were recovering an average of three Glock switches per week across the city, according to testimony submitted to the Maryland General Assembly. Federal law separately treats the conversion devices as illegal machine guns, with possession punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison, per the U.S. Department of Justice. Whether federal prosecutors in the Western District of Tennessee will add charges to Ramsey's case remains unclear.
The Village Mart sits at 1169 South Bellevue Boulevard, according to Citizen, on a stretch of the roadway that has seen other violence this year. In February, a critical shooting at Poplar Avenue and Bellevue Boulevard in Midtown Memphis drew both local and federal law enforcement, as Hoodline previously reported.
Market's Violent Past Meets a Citywide Crime Decline
The store has a violent history of its own. A December 2016 armed robbery at the same location led to a 2018 federal conviction and a 25-year prison sentence for a gang member, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The shooting comes even as broader crime statistics point in the opposite direction. Memphis Police Department data for the second quarter of 2026 show homicides down 60% and aggravated assaults down 30% compared with the same period in 2025, according to the Memphis Police Department. The Shelby County District Attorney's Office reported similar declines in its 2025 annual report, citing a 21% drop in violent crime and a 16% reduction in overall crime across more than 123,000 cases handled countywide, per the Shelby County District Attorney's Office.
