A man was shot at a car wash on Elvis Presley Boulevard in Whitehaven on Saturday morning, and the gunman took off in a black vehicle before officers could catch him. Memphis police responded to 3419 Elvis Presley Boulevard around 10:12 a.m. and found a male victim at the scene, who was taken to a hospital in non-critical condition.
The shooting happened at the Take 5 Car Wash location, a 3,750-square-foot facility on a 1.2-acre lot that formerly operated as Car Wash USA Express, according to LoopNet commercial property records. As WREG first reported, police describe the suspect as a man wearing a blue shirt who was last seen fleeing the scene in a black vehicle. Investigators have not released information about what led to the shooting, and the investigation remains ongoing.
A Commercial Corridor Steps From Graceland
The car wash sits roughly 0.4 miles north of Graceland, Memphis's premier tourist landmark that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, according to Compass Real Estate. The stretch of Elvis Presley Boulevard running through Whitehaven is also the site of an $8.9 million infrastructure revitalization project managed by the Tennessee Department of Transportation and the City of Memphis, spanning the roadway between Winchester Road and Shelby Drive, the same source notes.
It was not the first emergency call to the property this month. Two weeks before Saturday's shooting, on August 1, emergency responders were dispatched to 3419 Elvis Presley Boulevard following a disturbance stemming from a two-car crash at the same location, per a report from Citizen. The car wash is operated by Take 5 Car Wash, a brand owned by Charlotte-based Driven Brands Holdings Inc., which runs more than 400 express car wash locations nationwide and generates over $2 billion in annual revenue across its automotive service portfolio, according to B+E.
Crime Trends Along a Busy Whitehaven Strip
The shooting falls within the coverage area of the Memphis Police Department's Raines Station, which patrols 78.4 square miles and serves more than 102,000 residents across South Memphis and Whitehaven. Year-to-date Part I crime in the Raines precinct dropped 28.87% through late 2025, according to public safety data presented to the Memphis City Council by Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis. Citywide, shooting incidents fell 38% in 2025 to 643 recorded incidents, down from 1,043 the year before, resulting in nearly 500 fewer shooting injuries across Memphis, per the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission.
Even so, commercial stretches of Elvis Presley Boulevard have continued to see sporadic gunfire this year. Hoodline has previously reported one wounded in a late-night shooting in the 1300 block of the boulevard in June, and covered a fatal shooting during an attempted robbery at a Whitehaven Walgreens in the 4100 block back in April. A separate car wash shooting critically injured a man at a North Avalon Street facility in Memphis in 2024, underscoring that gunfire at car wash properties is not unique to this incident.
Trauma Care and Possible Charges
Gunshot victims in South Memphis are routinely transported to Regional One Health's Elvis Presley Trauma Center downtown, the only Level 1 Trauma Center within 150 miles serving parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri, according to Regional One Health. It is not clear from available reporting whether Saturday's victim was taken there. If the suspect is identified and arrested, using or displaying a firearm during an assault constitutes felony aggravated assault under Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-13-102, a Class C felony carrying 3 to 15 years in prison and fines up to $10,000 if committed intentionally, per Justia's summary of the statute.
Police have not said whether the shooter and victim knew each other, nor have they disclosed a motive for the Saturday morning attack. It also remains unclear whether anyone was formally detained or charged in connection with the shooting. Memphis police have not released additional information about what led to the incident, and the case remains under investigation.
