A 19-year-old man allegedly involved in multiple shootings in Memphis, Tennessee has been taken into custody, said the Memphis Police Department in a statement on Wednesday (local time).
"Suspect is in custody," Memphis Police Department said on Twitter. "Shelter in place has been lifted."
Ezekiel D. Kelly, the 19-year-old suspect wanted in relation to multiple shootings has been apprehended for gunning down people randomly on Facebook live, a local media report said adding that the incident triggered terror amongst citizens in Memphis on Wednesday afternoon.
According to local media, several people were shot in multiple locations and the suspect was streaming the violence on Facebook live, however, the exact number of victims is not known yet.
In another incident, a 19-year-old man, Dontae Ramon Smith was charged with murder in a series of random shootings on September 1 over around two hours last weekend in Detroit that killed three people. The accused killed three people in a shooting spree.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said that he is determined to ban assault weapons in America, amid the increasing gun violence in the country.
In order to curb the rising incidents of gun violence in the US, the US Senate passed a bipartisan bill to address gun violence in the United States, the first major piece of federal gun reform in almost 30 years. The final vote was 65 to 33 with 15 Republicans joining Democrats in support of the measure, marking a significant bipartisan breakthrough on one of the most contentious policy issues in the US.
The "Bipartisan Safer Communities Act" bill aims to take firearms away from dangerous people and provide millions of dollars for mental health, school safety, crisis intervention programs, and incentives for states to include juvenile records in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
However, the bill does not ban assault-style rifles or significantly expand background-check requirements for gun purchases, but it gives states more resources to take guns away from dangerous individuals.
More than 390 million guns are owned by civilians in the US. In 2020 alone, more than 45,000 Americans died from firearms-related injuries including homicides and suicides. This move comes after the May 24 massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and two teachers it was the bloodiest mass shooting in the United States this year, which occurred only 10 days after another shooting that killed 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo.
Amid the rising gun violence in the country, the US Department [of Justice] also launched intensified National Ghost Gun Enforcement Initiative in February 2022 to refrain criminals from using weapons.
According to the latest data from the Gun Violence Archive, there have been more than 21,800 deaths from gun violence and 296 mass shootings across the United States over the past six months.
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