A fatal police shooting led to a violent confrontation between officers and community members in Memphis’ Frayser neighborhood Wednesday night after a man was killed in a shooting involving U.S. Marshals.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation identified the man as 20-year-old Brandon Webber on Thursday morning.
At least 24 officers were injured during the altercation, and six were taken to the hospital, according to a Facebook post by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland. Two journalists were also injured.
“Multiple police cars were vandalized. A concrete wall outside a business was torn down. The windows were broken out at fire station 31,” Strickland’s post said.
Shooting leads to violent standoff
According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, officers from the U.S. Marshals Service encountered a man wanted for multiple warrants outside a home on Durham Avenue.
The man was getting into a vehicle, and allegedly “rammed his vehicle into the officers’ vehicles multiple times before exiting with a weapon,” the TBI said. Marshals then shot and killed the man.
Shortly after the shooting, a crowd formed on Overton Crossing Street and Argonne Street shortly after the shooting and they soon grew restless. Memphis Police Department officers formed a barricade and soon brought out shields and batons, creating a standoff between the two sides.
Helicopters circled overhead. Crowd members yelled and threw rocks and bricks at patrol cars passing through, and gunshots were heard.
According to Pamela Moses, a local activist and candidate for mayor, authorities then used tear gas on the crowd.
Rain started to fall around 10 p.m., which dispersed some of the crowd.
NAACP ‘closely monitoring the reports of riots’
The encounter caught the attention of The NAACP, who tweeted at 11 p.m. they were “closely monitoring the reports of riots.”
The TBI reported that the shooting involved members of the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force, part of the U.S. Marshals Service. At the time, the MPD was assisting with traffic control.
According to the TBI, multiple officers with the Marshals Service encountered Webber, wanted for multiple warrants, outside a home on Durham Avenue.
When officers arrived, Webber was getting into a vehicle.
“While attempting to stop the individual, he reportedly rammed his vehicle into the officers’ vehicles multiple times before exiting with a weapon,” according to a TBI press release. “The officers fired, striking and killing the individual. No officers were injured.”
Memphis Police Department officers were not involved in the shooting, the department said in a tweet.
The identities of the Marshals Service officers involved in the shooting have not yet been released.
Frayser is a hell hole!