Shooting Near Community Pool Injures One

(Memphis) – Shell casings were scattered just feet from the Douglass Park Community Pool in North Memphis, where police say a 19-year-old man was shot at 4:30 Thursday afternoon. Police say two men got into a fight and one pulled a gun and fired a shot into the other man’s leg.

Families playing at the pool grabbed their children close as officers surrounded the park with crime scene tape.

“I just watched. I was scared,” he said. ” I didn’t know what was going on.”

Jayhuan Coleman says he was reluctant to get out his car with his small children. They came to enjoy the nice weather in the park when they saw the police.

“When you hear something like that it affects you because you have to be careful,” he said.

But some who have lived near the park say the violence is nothing new.

“When it gets hot the gangs come out,” one woman said.

Which is why many people seemed to go on with their day playing basketball and cooking out as police investigated the crime scene nearby.

“There isn’t nothing but a lot of shooting and a lot fighting it’s just too much,” she said.

But despite the shooting, the woman says she’ll  be back in the park tomorrow for a Juneteenth celebration.

“This is a very good park we plan on having a good time on Juneteenth,” she said. “There will be no problems because we have police everywhere. It is something we do every year. We enjoy ourselves and there won’t be nothing like that  going on.”

But Coleman says he’ll think twice before bringing his kids back to the park.

“It’s going to be a minute,” he said.

The victim of the shooting was taken to the hospital with non life threatening injuries. The suspect remains on the loose, but police say they know who it is.