MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A police officer and an 18-year-old suspect were fatally shot early Friday in Tennessee during an exchange of gunfire that injured two other officers and a 17-year-old, police officials said.
Memphis officers responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle around 2 a.m., interim Police Director CJ Davis said at a news conference. As officers approached, Davis said, the vehicle’s occupants shot at them, and officers returned fire. Three officers and two suspects were hit by gunfire.
The suspect drove away and police followed until the vehicle stopped a few blocks away. Davis said one suspect was immediately taken into custody and a second was found nearby.
One of the officers struck by gunfire, Joseph McKinney, died, she said. A second officer was taken to a hospital, where his condition was upgraded to non-critical. A third officer who was shot by gunfire was treated at the scene, she said.
Two suspects, an 18-year-old who was driving the vehicle and a 17-year-old, were taken to a hospital in critical condition, where the 18-year-old died, Davis said.
Davis said she did not know what prompted the call to report the suspicious vehicle.
“The men and women of the Memphis Police Department are injured right now. As the chief of police, I am hurt right now,” Davis said. “And again, senseless deaths in our community due to gun violence. Today we are here not just to talk about what happened last night, but to make a call to our community that gun violence must stop.”
Prosecutors have been contacted and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will investigate, police said.