A 26-year-old man wanted for allegedly opening fire inside the lobby of an East Memphis strip club in May was finally taken into custody this month after a traffic stop turned into a foot chase that ended with an officer firing a Taser six times. DeAngelo Bland now faces four counts of attempted first-degree murder, four counts of employment of a firearm with intent to commit a dangerous felony, and reckless endangerment in connection with the shooting at the Gold Club.
According to WREG, officers were called to the Gold Club at 777 N. White Station Road on May 17 after a group inside the club turned violent and had to be escorted out. Police say a club worker confronted and escorted the group out, and during that confrontation one member of the group grabbed the worker by the throat, causing the situation to escalate further.
Two men in the group then retrieved handguns from a sedan and fired shots into the club's lobby, where employees and other people were present at the time, per police. The suspects fled the scene in a black sedan and a white sedan, according to the station's report.
Traffic Stop Matches Suspect Vehicle
Investigators caught a break on May 21, when officers stopped a black Kia in the 3900 block of Elvis Presley Boulevard that matched the suspect vehicle from the Gold Club shooting, per MPD. That stop led officers to identify Bland as the second shooter, and a lineup later identified him as one of the shooting suspects, per officers. Despite the identification, the report notes the second suspect was not arrested at that time.
The 777 N. White Station Road address has a documented history of gun violence predating this incident. Memphis officers responded to a fatal shooting at the same location on August 6, 2022, after an 11:20 p.m. call led them to a male victim who was pronounced dead at the scene, according to ABC24 Memphis, with police requesting tips through Crime Stoppers at the time. The club, which operates under late-night hours running until 3 a.m. on weeknights and 6 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, per TUSCL, sits along a stretch of White Station Road that has otherwise drawn fresh commercial investment, including a $10 million mixed-use retail and office project Gill Properties launched nearby in a Hoodline report from February.
Arrest Came After Foot Chase and Taser Deployment
Bland remained wanted on active warrants for attempted first-degree murder, reckless endangerment, and employment of a firearm with intent to commit a felony stemming from the May incident until October 2, when officers spotted him and conducted a traffic stop after seeing him enter a Dodge Charger. Per MPD, Bland fled on foot after exiting the vehicle, prompting police to pursue him in the area of S. Parkway East.
Bland eventually stopped running during the pursuit, but the officer chasing him fired a Taser six times, saying he feared for his safety, per police. Police then took Bland into custody. Memphis Police Department foot pursuit guidelines call for officers to continually weigh officer safety against public threat levels before resorting to force options like Tasers, a policy that has faced heightened scrutiny in recent years.
Severe Prison Exposure Under State Sentencing Law
Bland's four counts of attempted first-degree murder each carry a standard sentencing range of 15 to 25 years for a Range I offender, since the charge is classified as a Class A felony under Tennessee Code § 39-11-117, according to Justia Law. Under the state's Truth in Sentencing law enacted in 2022, anyone convicted of attempted first-degree murder must serve the full term with no eligibility for early parole or sentence reduction credits, per Corrections1.
The firearm counts add another layer of exposure. Tennessee Code § 39-17-1324 requires a separate, consecutive sentence of at least six years for employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, with no probation or alternative sentencing allowed, according to Patriot Law. Because attempted first-degree murder qualifies as a predicate dangerous felony under the statute, that mandatory firearm sentence cannot run concurrently with whatever term Bland receives on the underlying charges.
Bland's arrest follows a broader local push against armed violent offenders. The Memphis Police Department's Operation HUSH in March 2026 produced 45 grand jury indictments and 367 felony counts targeting violent crime and illegal firearm possession, part of multi-agency task force efforts across Shelby County aimed at violent crime warrants.
Shelby County prosecutors have previously used public nuisance statutes to force security overhauls or shutdowns at venues tied to repeated violence, as seen when the Pure Passion club was temporarily shut down in late 2016, according to LocalMemphis. Whether prosecutors will pursue similar action against the Gold Club, or what became of the second suspect identified in the May shooting, remains unknown.
