A Memphis man is facing an attempted first-degree murder charge after his ex-girlfriend told police he had stalked her for two weeks and he was found wounded after a shooting at her Soulsville home involving her current boyfriend. The shooting happened just after 3:30 a.m. on October 14 on Englewood Street near East Trigg Avenue, leaving both men injured.
According to court documents cited by Action News 5, officers arrived to find Larico Cooper lying in the driveway with a gunshot wound to his leg and a handgun holster still on his waistband. Police recovered a black handgun fitted with a red optic from underneath a parked car in the same driveway, per the affidavit. Investigators then followed a blood trail from the driveway, around the residence, and into the rear bedroom, the station reports.
The homeowner, identified as Cooper's ex-girlfriend, told police she had been out that night with her boyfriend — one of the two shooting victims. When she returned home and stepped out of the restroom, she said she could not find him and instead saw Cooper lying wounded in the driveway, according to the police account relayed in the same report. She told officers Cooper did not have permission to be inside her home and said he had been stalking her for the previous two weeks.
Boyfriend Says He Was Ambushed in the Kitchen
The boyfriend drove himself to the hospital for treatment after the shooting. He told police he had walked through the kitchen toward the bedroom when he was ambushed by gunfire, and said he returned fire in self-defense without being certain who was shooting at him, the outlet notes. Cooper was struck several times and was also taken to the hospital.
Under Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-11-611, the presumption of reasonable fear of imminent death or serious injury applies when a person uses deadly force against someone who unlawfully and forcibly entered an occupied residence, dwelling, business or vehicle, subject to statutory exceptions. A separate statute, § 39-11-622, provides civil immunity to a person justified in using force.
Charges Carry Steep, Parole-Free Sentences
Cooper is charged with criminal attempt to commit first-degree murder, employment of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony, especially aggravated burglary, and being a convicted felon in possession of a handgun. Attempted first-degree murder is among the charges Cooper faces. Under the state's Truth in Sentencing law, which took effect July 1, 2022, anyone convicted of that charge must serve the entire sentence in prison with no parole eligibility.
The especially aggravated burglary charge, defined under Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-13-1004 as burglary of a habitation or another building in which a victim lawfully on the premises suffers serious bodily injury, is a Class B felony carrying 8 to 30 years and fines up to $25,000, with offenders required to serve at least 85% of that sentence.
A Pattern Local Data Keeps Flagging
The case lands amid a broader pattern tracked by regional researchers. The University of Memphis Public Safety Institute found Shelby County recorded more than 16,000 domestic violence offenses in 2025, with over 14,000 of them in Memphis, and more than half of domestic violence aggravated assaults involving firearms. Nearly 8,000 such offenses were already logged countywide in just the first half of 2026.
The Englewood Street shooting took place in Soulsville USA.
