By Tony Webster from Minneapolis, Minnesota - Philando Castile - Falcon Heights Police Shooting, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54800046

Ezekiel Kelly, the man alleged of shooting and killing 4 people while live streaming on Facebook in Memphis, Tennessee, was released from prison in 2020 following a shootout. This shootout got Kelly charged with 2 counts of attempted murder. Later, he would be convicted on two counts of aggravated assault as a result of the 2020 shootout. Kelly’s record also includes being convicted of aggravated robbery in 2018. The Facebook live stream murders would result in a manhunt for Kelly, where he was later arrested after driving a stolen car. In his getaway, Kelly is also being charged with two different carjackings.

Police in Memphis, Tennessee, arrested a 19-year-old repeat offender suspected of shooting and killing four people and injuring at least three others in a rampage on Wednesday afternoon.

The suspect, Ezekiel Kelly, is also accused of two armed carjackings that happened as he attempted to flee from police. Authorities said the rampage was spread across at least eight different crime scenes.

Police confirmed to Fox News Digital that Kelly was arrested after crashing a stolen car near the area of Ivan Road and Hodge Road. 

Police said multiple felony charges are pending against Kelly, who has a previous criminal history. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland revealed during a press conference that Kelly was charged with attempted first-degree murder but pled guilty to a downgraded aggravated assault charge in April 2021. 

Kelly was sentenced to three years in prison, but was released in March 2022 after serving just 11 months of his sentence.

The shooting rampage comes less than six months after Kelly was allowed back on the streets of Memphis.

Mayor Strickland denounced Kelly’s release on Wednesday night.

“If Mr. Kelly served his full three-year sentence, he would still be in prison today and four of our fellow citizens would still be alive,” the mayor added.

Kelly is another product of a system failing to protect its people, and Memphis has seen it worse than anywhere else these past few days. Along with Kelly’s alleged rampage, the kidnapping and murder that Cleotha Henderson is being accused of committing which left Eliza Fletcher, a mother and Kindergarten teacher brutally murdered, are just two symptoms of the exact same product; a system going easy on criminals. When a system goes easy on criminals, the legal system is showing it cares more about compassion for violent offenders than it does for keeping the community safe. The result is exactly what follows, and that is violent offenders being allowed to go back to exactly what they were locked up for, but in the case of Kelly and Henderson, they’re being charged with committing their worst crimes yet.



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