Two injured during shooting in community center parking lot

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Two people were injured early Saturday morning after being shot at while sitting in a community center parking lot.

At 1:25 a.m., officers responded to a shooting at 810 Western Park Drive at the Westwood Community Center.

When they arrived, they saw a 2024 black Toyota Rav4 resting against a tree with the driver’s side rear window shot out.

Officers located a victim in the driver’s seat with a gunshot wound to the back of his head. Officers also located another victim in the passenger seat, holding pressure on the first victim’s wound.

Both victims said that they came to the park to hang out. Shortly after arriving, they said that they saw a silver SUV, possibly a Jeep, pull into the lot.

A heavyset man allegedly exited the car armed with an AR pistol and said, “Don’t move.”

One of the victims attempted to drive away and he said he was shot in the back of the head and hit the tree. Both victims said that the suspect fled the scene in an unknown direction.

An RTCC officer told officers at the scene that they had the shooting on video. He said that the victims pulled onto the lot and backed into a parking space around 1:16 a.m.

The video shows they were there for 20 seconds before a boxy silver SUV pulled onto the lot. It also showed that as soon as the victim saw the vehicle, they pulled away.

The suspect exited the silver SUV and began to shoot at the victims.

One of the victims was taken to Regional One in critical condition. The other victim was taken to Methodist South in non-critical condition.

At the scene, officers found five 300 blackout shell casings recovered on the scene.

Mary Bain has been volunteering at the Westwood community center for years and was devastated to hear two people were shot there early this morning.

“Lord have mercy, that’s all I could say. Lord have mercy. And hoping nobody died from that incident. But these guns, they need to put these guns down,” Bain said. “I can’t take this anymore because it’s sad. Everybody needs to stop, get down on their knees, and pray for Memphis.”

While Saturday was a hard day for Bain, she says she plans to get back to her volunteer work on Monday. She says the best way to overshadow the crime is to put more good into the city.

“Maybe one child will pick up on it. One will pick up on it, and that will be a blessing,” Bain said.

If you have any information that could help police, call CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH.

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