A fight among five women outside a North Memphis home turned violent Wednesday afternoon, leaving two women with gunshot wounds and a third with a head injury from a wheel lock, according to police. Three women now face aggravated assault charges after the confrontation in the 800 block of Randle Street.
The shooting occurred after a sharp citywide decline in gun violence in the previous year: Memphis recorded 643 shooting incidents in 2025, 400 fewer than in 2024, a 38% drop, while aggravated assaults fell 22%, Memphis Police Department year-end figures show. Those annual totals provide citywide context; they do not describe the circumstances of this particular confrontation or trends on Randle Street.
Police arrested the three women following the incident, as WREG reported. Mecah Newberry, 30, was charged with four counts of aggravated assault, while Deja Polk, 29, and Starkisha Brown, 35, were each charged with one count, per the station's report.
Tennessee law defines aggravated assault to include an assault committed intentionally or knowingly that results in serious bodily injury or involves the use or display of a deadly weapon. The statute also covers certain reckless assaults that cause serious bodily injury or involve a deadly weapon. The state statute sets out those definitions; the charges against the three women are allegations, not findings of guilt.
Two Women Shot, One Hit With a Wheel Lock
Police said the fight left two women with gunshot wounds and one woman with a head injury from a wheel lock. One victim was shot in the thigh, and the other was grazed by a bullet on her forehead and upper right chest, the outlet noted. Officers detained Polk and Newberry on Randle Street following the altercation.
Brown told investigators at Regional One Health that she hit Newberry on the head with a wheel lock, according to the same account. She said she had driven the two gunshot victims to Regional One Medical Center after the fight. Newberry, meanwhile, told officers she had been struck in the head with a crowbar, and officers transported her to Methodist University for medical treatment — a conflicting detail the report did not resolve.
Regional One is home to the Elvis Presley Trauma Center, the only designated Level I trauma center within a 150-mile radius of Memphis. Its team provides round-the-clock care for high-risk injuries and serves patients from Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri, the hospital says. The center’s regional role provides context for why people injured in incidents across the area may be taken there for care.
Brown Describes How the Fight Escalated
Brown told investigators she had been dropping off the two gunshot victims on Randle Street when they got into an argument with Polk and Newberry that spilled into a physical fight in the street. She said she only fought Newberry during the confrontation, the station's report states.
According to Brown's account, after she struck Newberry with the wheel lock, Newberry pulled a small handgun from the chest area of her clothing. Brown said she and the two women with her then ran toward her white Kia Optima to flee the scene, per the same account. The evidence does not include an independent account of that sequence.
Bond Amounts and Upcoming Court Dates
Brown was released from jail on a $7,500 bond, while Polk and Newberry are each being held on $100,000 bond, the outlet reported. All three women are scheduled to appear in court Friday.
