A Memphis man is facing an attempted first-degree murder charge after his girlfriend told police he pointed a handgun at her face and pulled the trigger during a confrontation on Andrew Crossing Drive, but the weapon did not fire. Police say the gun, fitted with an illegal switch and an extended magazine, would have fired like a machine gun had it gone off.
Marshawn Hunter was charged with attempted first-degree murder involving domestic violence, employment of a firearm during a dangerous felony, prohibited weapon possession, resisting stop and arrest, and domestic assault, according to WREG. Officers responded to the 4500 block of Andrew Crossing Drive on Wednesday, where Hunter's girlfriend said he had pointed the handgun at her face and pulled the trigger, but it did not go off.
After the gun failed to fire, Hunter allegedly told her, “You better be glad it didn’t go off,” the station reported. When officers later spotted Hunter, he reportedly ignored their attempts to detain him and kept walking away.
Tased After Reaching for His Waistband
Police say Hunter then reached into the front of his waistband, at which point an officer used a Taser and took him into custody. Officers seized the handgun, which had been modified with what police described as a machine-gun switch and fitted with an extended magazine, per the same account.
The Wednesday confrontation was not the first alleged incident between the couple this month. Officers had already responded to an assault in the 4400 block of Cedar Glenn Drive on Sept. 8, where Hunter's girlfriend said he came to where she was, grabbed her by the throat and threatened to hurt her, the report states.
Switches Called a Growing Concern by Federal Agents
The device police say was attached to Hunter's gun belongs to a category of illegal modifications that federal authorities describe as an escalating threat in the Memphis area. A Glock switch converts a semiautomatic handgun into a weapon that fires like a fully automatic one, and ATF Nashville Special Agent in Charge Mickey French told Fox 13 that “Glock switches are definitely on the rise,” with agents seizing almost 50 of them in the prior six months.
French said the devices are reaching the region through two main channels: overseas shipments and domestic 3D printing. “We're seeing them from two different sources: the first one being from China, they're being shipped in,” he said. “The second source is individuals that are printing them on 3D printers.”
Fox 13's 2022 reporting also tied switches to Memphis-area cases, including a shooting that police said seriously injured 4-year-old Itali Oakley after a gun modified with a switch was used, and the arrest of Preniago Baines, who police said was found with a Glock handgun equipped with a switch and an extended magazine after allegedly shooting a man and was charged with attempted first-degree murder.
Similar Domestic Violence Case in Antioch
An Antioch domestic violence case involving weapons and an attempt to flee police was reported by WKRN in October 2019. Eric Lopez was accused of repeatedly stabbing his wife with two kitchen knives following an argument over their truck, according to WKRN. Police said Lopez then tried to flee in the truck, ramming a police vehicle and another car before officers used a Taser to take him into custody, and he was booked on charges including attempted criminal homicide, reckless endangerment and assault on an officer. His bond was set at $950,000, though jail records showed he was ineligible for release because of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold, WKRN reported.
