Two juvenile boys were critically injured in a shooting Sunday evening in Memphis, and police have detained both of them as the investigation continues. Officers found the boys suffering from gunshot wounds at two separate intersections along Vanuys Road, just blocks apart, after responding to a shooting call around 5:03 p.m.
Officers responded to a shooting call in the 3500 block of Vanuys Road at approximately 5:03 p.m. Sunday, according to FOX13 Memphis. When they arrived, officers located one juvenile boy suffering from gunshot wounds near the intersection of Van Nuys Road and Catalina Street.
Second Victim Found Nearby
A second juvenile boy with gunshot wounds was found near the intersection of South Highland Street and Vanuys Road, the station reported. Both juveniles were transported to area hospitals in critical condition, and the Memphis Police Department confirmed that both juveniles are currently detained.
The report notes that authorities have not released the juveniles' ages or identities, and investigators have not disclosed what led to the shooting or whether any additional individuals were involved. Police have not said whether either juvenile faces criminal charges, and no further information has been provided about the circumstances surrounding their detention.
A Broader Pattern of Youth Gun Violence
The shooting lands amid a complicated picture for youth violence in Memphis and Shelby County. Serious juvenile offenses locally fell to 531 in 2024, down from 594 in 2022 and 641 in 2020, according to Action News 5. At the same time, the average juvenile detention stay climbed to nearly 44 days in 2024, up 10 days from two years earlier, per that same report.
Citywide, shootings have also trended downward. Memphis recorded 643 shooting incidents in 2025, 400 fewer than the year before — a 38% decrease — and nearly 500 fewer residents were injured in shootings last year, according to the Memphis Police Department. Part of that reduction followed enforcement pushes like Operation Rolling Thunder and its sequel, which together led to 370 arrests, including 92 gang members, and the recovery of 59 firearms last spring, the department said.
Children Still Bearing the Brunt
Despite the citywide decline, children remain disproportionately caught in the crossfire. Le Bonheur Children's Hospital treated 35 children for gunshot wounds from January through mid-May, with about 60% of those injuries tied to community violence, a trauma medical director told WREG. Nationally, the gun homicide rate among teens ages 15 to 19 has eased from its 2022 peak but remains roughly as high as or higher than before the pandemic, according to reporting from The Guardian.
That same reporting found Tennessee's gun homicide rate for teenagers nearly double the national average, and that Shelby County had the third-highest number of teen gun homicides of any county in the country despite not ranking among the nation's 50 most populous. Sunday's shooting follows other recent violent incidents in the city, including an October shooting outside an Oakhaven event center that left six people hurt, as reported by Action News 5, and a South Memphis apartment-complex shooting that left a man critically injured, according to WREG. No further details on the Vanuys Road case have been released.
