Chaotic scenes in Tennessee as police use tear gas following fatal shooting

Bonnie Christian13 June 2019

Chaotic scenes erupted in Tennessee after a shooting in a neighbourhood in Memphis.

Memphis police said people in the crowd threw rocks and bricks, with several officers suffering minor injuries.

Officers, who had been called to the scene to calm the incident, cordoned off several blocks near the scene and also used tear gas.

Authorities gave few details hours after the incident, which was being investigated by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

They said the shooting, which took place on Wednesday evening, involved members of the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force. The task force includes the US Marshals Service and other law enforcement agencies.

The Daily Memphian reported that after the shooting heavily armed police faced off against an angry crowd made up of dozens of residents of the Frayser community.

Memphis Shooting protests - In pictures

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Memphis Police Department said on Twitter that officers received minor injuries due to individuals throwing rocks and bricks.

No Memphis police officers were involved in the shooting, it added.

Most of the crowd had dispersed by 11pm.

The police have not confirmed the identity of the victim or whether he was killed.

But, Shelby County Commissioner and mayoral candidate Tami Sawyer said on Twitter that a man called Brandon Webber “was shot 16-20 times in his family’s front yard.”

“Every life lost should matter…every single one. How many times will this be ok? It cannot continue to be,” Sawyer tweeted early Thursday.

The shooting comes on the anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Florida in 2016 and on the day a Tennessee police officer who fatally shot a man in 2018 escaped charges.

Police on Thursday cordoned off a several block area near the shooting and lines of police cars with flashing blue lights were parked along the street. An ambulance could be seen at the outer edge of the scene.

Dozens of protesters clashed with law enforcement, throwing stones and tree limbs until authorities broke up the angry crowd with tear gas.
AP

A helicopter flew overhead as police cars trickled out of the area.

TBI public information officer Keli McAlister said on Twitter Wednesday night that she was in the area but there would be no update “for some time.”

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