Man indicted in deadly shooting rampage enters not guilty plea to 26 charges

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - The man charged in a shooting rampage that forced an hours-long lockdown across Shelby County in September appeared in court Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and 23 other charges.

Ezekiel Kelly, 19, has appeared in court several times over the past few weeks following the Sept. 7 shooting spree. Tuesday’s court appearance focused on the 26 new charges Kelly was indicted on just last week.

When Kelly was booked into Shelby County jail on Sept. 8, he was indicted on one first-degree murder charge in the shooting death of Dewayne Tunstall, the 24-year-old killed on Lyndale Avenue.

Kelly now faces three counts of first-degree murder.

The two additional charges come from the shooting deaths of 38-year-old Allison Parker killed on Poplar Avenue, and 62-year-old Richard Clark killed outside a gas station on South Parkway East.

Kelly is also facing a slew of other charges, including four counts of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault, attempted carjacking and a terrorism charge, just to name a few.

Action News 5 asked Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy how his office will try this case, but he declined to comment, despite how significant and rare he says a case like this is.

“This is a pretty extraordinary case. I would say that this is a once-in-quarter-century case,” said Mulroy. “It’s a highly usual situation. Of course, I haven’t seen much because I’ve only been on the job for one month but I think it’s been a long time since we’ve seen anything like this in Shelby County.”

Kelly is due back in court in two weeks for a preliminary hearing on the one first-degree murder charge he was first booked on where three witnesses are scheduled to testify.

He will then return to court on Nov. 8 for the other 26 charges.

Shelby County prosecutors say they will be filing a motion to join both cases into one in the coming days.

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