“Did anyone just hear gunshots and police cars in Cooper-Young?”
“Did anyone just hear that drive-by shooting? Five shots fired, I hear police now.”
“My camera caught this random guy going through my car. Around 1:55 a.m.”
“Anybody recognize this porch pirate. 4:00 in the afternoon!”
“Kittens! Found these three under my porch.”
These were the first five posts I read Sunday on Nextdoor.com, the social media network that keeps us all alerted to gunshots, porch pirates, “suspicious” youths, and stray kittens. I get email alerts and occasionally succumb to the teasing headline, often to my regret, mainly because of the comments.
But last Monday, November 27th, Nextdoor made real news. You probably heard or read about it. The Flyer’s Kailynn Johnson broke the story on our website, and local television stations soon ran with it. It was a pretty scary tale.
A woman living on Peabody posted a photo of one of her neighbors walking down the street brandishing what appeared to be a semi-automatic weapon. He was holding it high, at face level, and looked to be striding westward. Two schools are within a couple blocks of the spot where the armed man was walking: Grace St. Luke’s (GSL) and Idlewild Elementary.
From Johnson’s story: “When pictures of the individual began to circulate on the neighborhood app Nextdoor, GSL began a school-wide lockdown and notified police. At the time that parents received the initial notification, the school stated that the ‘suspect [had] been apprehended per the Memphis Police Department.’
“Shortly thereafter, parents received a second email with updates to the situation stating that they had received information from the West Precinct that ‘the individual with the weapon had been apprehended.’ However, according to the school, an in-person visit from an officer contradicted this information.”
MPD spokesperson Christopher Williams issued a statement Monday that there were complaints of a “man walking on the sidewalk armed with a rifle.” Williams said the man was not accused of committing a crime. “While it’s odd,” he said, “merely openly carrying a gun on a public sidewalk isn’t illegal. He was not located.” The spokesperson said there was “no incident report” filed on the Peabody gun-wielder.
“Odd” is not the word I would use, but that’s just me. What is odd is the fact that people on Nextdoor said they saw police officers and vehicles at the mystery man’s house, to wit: “He lives near me in a rental. And yes. It’s for real. Eight policemen were over there banging on the door and on the side of the house. He wouldn’t come out. They spoke to him thru his door and then left.”
On Tuesday, November 28th, the MPD told Johnson the individual was not accused of a crime and was not located.
So, who was lying? GSL, the Nextdoor posters, or the Memphis Police Department. The answer became obvious the following day, Wednesday, November 29th, when the MPD issued an, oops, incident report.
From the report: “The male subject told officers that he was the person walking down the street with his weapon. He said he was walking down the road with his weapon because he was scared. He told officers that Memphis is a dangerous place. He advised that he never wanted to harm anyone. He said that he only carried the rifle for his protection.
“The writer [officer] had the Real Time Crime Center check the subject, and he came back with negative results. Officers on the scene also checked him; he had no criminal history. The writer asked him if officers could see the weapon he was walking with, and he allowed officers to see the weapon. The writer … took a photo of the weapon. … The writer did not notice him to have any mental illness. The weapon was left with the subject.”
Well, that certainly makes me feel better. An MPD officer “did not notice” him to be mentally ill, so he got to keep his AK. Welcome to Governor Bill Lee’s and the GOP’s Tennessee, where a random guy can walk the streets around elementary schools with an automatic weapon.
For freedom. Or something. Please remember who put the NRA in charge of Tennessee gun laws when you vote next November. And let’s all pray that the unnamed police officer’s evaluation of “the subject’s” mental health is accurate.
