Weekly Update

Friends, 

The following pictures are of a person firing a gun on Raines Road and, moments later, from the parking lot of the police precinct. She (M.I.) fired her gun five times toward traffic. She said she was aiming at the second car behind her. Fortunately, no one was injured.

The person in these pictures was released on a $15,000 bond in November 2022, and last week, her charges were dismissed by the Shelby County District Attorney’s office.

Yes, these are real pictures, and you are not misreading the information. I am going to write it again—charges were dismissed against someone who fired a gun five times from a car towards traffic while in front of and later inside a police precinct parking lot.

To make matters worse, the person in the second car behind M.I. was a police officer!

In fact, it was Colonel Carlos Davis, the top officer at the Raines Station Police Precinct.  Colonel Davis was in the area when he observed a 2011 Hyundai Sonata that fit the description of a recently stolen vehicle. He followed the vehicle and requested additional cars through dispatch. The vehicle took off at a high rate of speed and slowed down to turn into the precinct.

If this is not a clear example that we have a problem in our criminal justice system, I do not know what one is.

This is yet another frustrating example of the “Revolving Door” that is 201 Poplar. I have said this many times before, and I will say it again—City government has zero tolerance for gun violence; unfortunately, the judicial system does. MPD did its job and arrested the perpetrator, but the tolerance of our criminal justice system is failing to deter further dangerous acts of gun violence.

Criminals do not fear shooting at people, even officers.  In 2022, 63 officers were shot at, with three wounded. So far in 2023, 12 officers have been shot at, with one killed and three more wounded.  One of the officers fired upon this year was off-duty but had identified himself as an officer to the criminal before shots were fired.

Remember in December 2022, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office and defense counsel agreed to probation for a man who shot 3 times at a police officer. The officer objected to this plea bargain, but the court agreed.  Months later, the criminal was arrested for Aggravated Assault, Felony Drug Possession, and Convicted Felon in Possession of a Weapon. He posted bond and never returned to court. He is currently wanted on warrants.

If criminals are not afraid to shoot at officers, why would be they be afraid to shoot at any of the rest of us?

Things must change.

Please let your voice be heard. Use the email link here from last week’s Update to share your concerns.

Another severe weather incident: Earlier this week and this afternoon, another severe weather incident took a harsh toll on our community. I understand the frustration with our outages. But I want you to know better days are ahead. As a quick reminder, MLGW does have a plan to update our infrastructure and they are working the plan.

The investments are as follows: 

• $800M to the electrical system
• $286M to the water system
• $128M to the gas system.

This work started in 2020 and will take another three to four years to complete.

The ultimate sacrifice: As you are aware, your Memphis Fire Department suffered a traumatic loss of one their own earlier this week. Tuesday night, Lt. Jeffrey Norman, was trapped in a blaze in a South Memphis neighborhood and lost his life. Three other firefighters were also injured during this event.

Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Lt. Norman and the entire MFD family. Each day our public safety employees put everything on the line to keep us safe from harm, and we owe them a debt of gratitude that can never be fully repaid.

This Sunday, July 23, 2023, at 8:15 p.m., there will be a "Sea of Red" to honor Lt. Jeffrey Norman. Lineup will begin at 7:15 p.m. Fire and Law enforcement vehicles are only allowed. As a reminder to those that plan to show their support by standing along the route, please do so safely.

Please keep the family and friends of Lt. Norman and the entire MFD family in your thoughts and prayers.

Opportunity R3: In last week’s Update, I wrote about some of the special participants that have gone through our Opportunity R3 program and have gone from no job and little hope to more confidence and a career.

Our communications team created this great video, and I wanted to share it with you. It gives a glimpse into the lives and challenges of our participants and why they chose to go through our program.

Please check out the video; it will be the best thing you watch all weekend.

Yours,