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Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Police in Memphis arrested a 19-year-old man on Wednesday night after gunfire and carjackings throughout the city caused several deaths and injuries, authorities said. Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said early Thursday that four people were killed in the "mobile mass shooting" and three were wounded, including one who was in critical condition.
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Davis said the first shooting occurred around 1 a.m. and officers found a man had been shot dead in his driveway.
The second was reported several hours later in East Parkway South, where another man was found dead in his vehicle. Just minutes later, there was another shooting near Interstate 240 and police say a woman had been hit in the leg. Later, police responded to another shooting.
The suspect in all the shootings was identified as Ezekiel Kelly and police said he was taken into custody after a high-speed chase late Wednesday. All told, the shooting spree spanned at least eight crime scenes over less than 24 hours.
Davis said that Kelly was broadcasting on Facebook Live during the shootings, which all appeared to be random.
Mayor Jim Strickland described the series of events a "senseless murder rampage."
"This is no way for us to live and it is not acceptable," he said at a news conference early Thursday. "The people of our city were confronted with the type of violence no one should have to face."
Davis said police were informed of the live streams and that Kelly had threatened to harm citizens during the broadcast, which led them to launch a citywide search.
During one of the shootings, a woman was killed and authorities said Kelly stole her car to escape from the scene. A man was injured by gunfire nearby just moments later.
Officers say they ultimately found Kelly and the stolen car and were led on a high-speed chase that ended with his arrest. They said two weapons were found in the car.
Strickland said Kelly had a previous charge of criminal attempted first-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge last year. He was sentenced to three years in prison, but served only 11 months before his release in March.
"We should not be terrorized by anyone who wants to strike fear in our hearts and take away what we love about Memphis," the mayor said. "We must unite around this principle and stand up to the challenge of violent crime in our city."
"Our citizens in Memphis and Shelby County were going about their business -- ordinary citizens doing ordinary things: Getting off from work, picking up children from daycare. Just going about their ordinary lives when it was all of a sudden shattered," Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner added.
"Many families were shattered tonight. Many families will never, never ever get over the horrific violence that we saw that one individual inflicted on the city tonight."
The violence on Wednesday came as Memphis was mourning the death of Eliza Fletcher, a young schoolteacher who was kidnapped and killed last week after she went out for a morning jog. Her body was found later and it was identified as Fletcher's on Tuesday.
