Memphis police seized seven pounds of fentanyl, more than 6,500 oxycodone pills and a handgun rigged with an illegal machine gun conversion device after executing search warrants at two homes Thursday morning. Two men, Edward Lindsey and Gerrell Childress, were taken into custody and now face a stack of felony drug and weapons charges.
Officers moved on homes on Lipford Street and Townhall Lane just before 8 a.m. Thursday, according to Action News 5, which reported that police were specifically searching for Childress. As officers moved in on the Lipford Street house, Childress tried to escape through a kitchen window but was detained at the scene along with Lindsey, the station reported.
Inside the Lipford Street home, police found white powder scattered throughout the house, along with a Glock handgun, a second Glock, a machine gun conversion device, cash and additional drugs stashed in a bedroom. A Toyota Camry parked in the driveway held two bags of marijuana in the trunk, per the same report. The white brick substance recovered during the search later tested positive for fentanyl.
Thousands of Pills and a Modified Glock
All told, officers seized seven pounds of fentanyl, 6,511 oxycodone pills and one pound of marijuana across the two locations, the outlet noted. At the Townhall Lane home, police also recovered several handguns, personal documents and cash. The scale of the fentanyl haul is staggering by federal standards: the Drug Enforcement Administration considers just 2 milligrams of fentanyl a potentially lethal dose, meaning the roughly 3,175 grams seized in Memphis theoretically contains more than 1.5 million lethal doses.
The pills pose their own danger. Under the DEA's “One Pill Can Kill” initiative, testing found that 6 out of 10 counterfeit prescription pills laced with fentanyl in 2023 contained a potentially lethal dose, underscoring how a single swallowed tablet from an illicit batch can kill.
Charges Filed Against Both Men
Lindsey was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture, deliver or sell oxycodone, fentanyl and marijuana, along with possession of drug paraphernalia. Childress faces the same drug charges plus possession of a prohibited weapon, possession of drug paraphernalia and three counts of possessing a firearm during an attempt to commit a dangerous felony, according to the report.
The weapons charge tied to the conversion device carries its own weight under state law. Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-17-1302 makes possessing a machine gun conversion device — commonly called a Glock switch or auto sear — a felony prohibited-weapon offense, according to CCW Hub. The devices convert semi-automatic handguns into weapons capable of firing automatically with a single pull of the trigger.
The drug quantities recovered also place both men well into Class A felony territory. Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-17-417 classifies possession or distribution of 150 grams or more of fentanyl as a Class A felony carrying a mandatory 15 to 60 years in prison and fines up to $500,000, per Justia Law. The seven pounds seized in this case amounts to roughly 20 times that minimum threshold.
Part of a Broader Crackdown on Switches and Synthetic Opioids
This bust fits a pattern Memphis police have pursued for months. The Memphis Police Department's Multi-Agency Gang Unit and violent crime task forces targeted modified illegal firearms in a June raid on Rosebank Road, recovering handguns fitted with machine gun conversion devices, according to the Memphis Police Department. Hoodline previously reported that the West Tennessee Violent Crime & Drug Task Force raided a suspected open-air fentanyl market on Powell Avenue in January, seizing cocaine, paraphernalia and a loaded handgun modified with an external switch in a case that led to Nutbush Street drug market shutdown charges.
The lethal stakes of fentanyl distribution in the region have already played out in court. A federal jury convicted a Memphis man in August for selling fentanyl-laced drugs that caused three fatal overdoses in June 2024, a case jointly investigated by Collierville police and the DEA. And in April 2025, federal prosecutors in Western Tennessee indicted five people on charges of conspiring to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine and marijuana linked to Sinaloa cartel operations, reflecting how local seizures often connect to larger trafficking networks.
Despite cases like this week's seizure, Shelby County has seen some signs of improvement on the overdose front. Suspected opioid-related overdose deaths in the county dropped by more than 25% in 2025 and 2026, according to local health data reported by WREG, a trend attributed in part to expanded public access to naloxone. Statewide, fatal drug overdose deaths in Tennessee fell 5.5% in 2023, the first decline since monitoring began in 2013, according to the Tennessee Department of Health — even as this week's Memphis seizure shows how much synthetic opioid supply is still moving through residential neighborhoods.
