19-year-old accused of deadly Mid-South shooting spree in jail without bond

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - The suspect in a shooting spree that put the city of Memphis on lockdown appeared in court for the first time Friday morning since allegedly committing mass murder.

Right now Ezekiel Kelly is facing one charge of first-degree murder.

But more charges are likely. Memphis Police Department says the 19-year-old went on a shooting spree Wednesday shooting seven people over a nearly 24-hour period and killing three of them.

Judge Karen Massey says this sentence carries life without parole, life with the possibility of parole or the death penalty.

Massey appointed Kelly a public defender and in the meantime, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy says public safety is the top priority.

“We the district attorney’s office we are going to continue to work closely with law enforcement as we have been doing everything we can to see that justice is done in this case and all other cases because public safety is our absolute number one priority,” said Mulroy. “I know the public is concerned they are understandably concerned about what a horrible week we have had here in Memphis over the last week we get that we understand how the public feels and we want to reassure the public that we and launch ports are not working around the clock on these cases to prevent to prevent things like this from happening.”

And we’re now learning more about those victims including who police say was the first victim of Kelly’s on Wednesday -- DeWayne “Amir” Tunstall.

Marcus Cash says Tunstall was over at his house when Kelly showed up for some food.

Then, he heard gunfire.

Cash’s home in North Memphis is now riddled with bullets and his friend, Tunstall, was killed.

Police say this happened around 1 a.m. Wednesday and it’s this murder Kelly is now facing the murder charge for.

But police say hours after he opened fire in North Memphis, Kelly went on a shooting spree shooting six more people across Memphis.

Like many of us in this community, Cash can’t make any sense of the murder of his friend.

“He ate. He ate his food; it was out the blue! Like it was out the blue like literally,” said Cash.

Cash says Kelly was an acquaintance and there was no known issue between anyone in the house that night.

Of course, Tunstall’s story is just one of many a slew of families trying to make sense of what appeared to be a random rampage.

Kelly’s next court date is set for Sept. 13 at 9 a.m. He is in Shelby County Jail without bond.

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