MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The sheriff’s office says that one person is dead after a shooting at a store in Northaven.
Deputies responded to the Penny Pantry convenience store on Breckenwood Drive in Northaven at around 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.
The sheriff’s office says one person was pronounced dead on the scene.
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office has identified Lamarious Rattler as the suspect. The sheriff’s office says Rattler has active warrants for first-degree murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of a firearm in the commission of a dangerous felony.
This is the second reported killing at the convenience store in less than two years. People who live in the community like Pastor Hosea Houston say they are tired of the violence taking place.
Pastor Hosea Houston of Pleasant Chapel Missionary Baptist Church says he knows the victim’s family.
“So often we see ourselves meeting at the same places for the same results with killing. It just seems like killing is on every hand,” Pastor Houston said.
Several people say the convenience store is a magnet for crime, but Pastor Houston disagrees.
“It’s not in the land. It’s in the man,” Pastor Houston said. “The problem is not in the location. The problem is in the people that’s in the location.”
Houston says Northaven residents have been working hard to fight blight and crime, but this latest incident is a step back.
“I preached a eulogy of a young man that got shot right, not ten feet from the last young man got killed at on last night. It’s just getting old, and it tears at our heartstrings to see these young men take each other’s lives the way that they’re doing it,” Pastor Houston said. “I just believe in Northaven. We gone come back stronger. We gone come back better. We gone get out and we gone save our community.”
Deputies have not given a motive for the shooting but do say that this is still an ongoing investigation.
The sheriff’s office says Rattler should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 901-379-7625 or the detective bureau at 901-222-5600.
