A woman sitting outside a Tennessee Walmart discovered her car had been struck by a bullet — later finding out that a man had fired a gun straight through his own hand and into her vehicle, according to authorities.
Elijah Jones, 23, now faces a charge of reckless endangerment for discharging a firearm from inside a motor vehicle, court records show. He was taken into custody and his bond was set at $100,000.
The woman told authorities that around 7 p.m. on Saturday, she was seated in her 2013 Audi A4 in the parking lot of the Walmart on Austin Peay Highway in Memphis, Tennessee, according to an affidavit obtained by Law&Crime. Without warning, she “heard a gunshot and discovered that her rear passenger door had been struck” by a bullet.
She added that the shot appeared to have come from a white Chevrolet sedan, and that the man inside — who was alone — “appeared to have an injury to one of his hands.” He then drove off.
Memphis Police Department officers responded to the scene, spoke with the woman, and “observed the damage” to her vehicle, recovering a bullet fragment from inside it.
Investigators discovered that Jones had checked into the emergency room of a nearby hospital “with a gunshot wound to his hand.” Officers also located a white 2017 Chevrolet Impala registered to him in the parking lot.
Inside the vehicle, on the front passenger seat, sat a 10 mm Smith & Wesson M&P handgun, with a spent shell casing on the floorboard, according to the court document. “Jones advised Officers that he was in the driver seat of his vehicle when he went to grab his gun from beneath the driver’s seat,” the document states.
“As he picked up the weapon, it discharged, and the gunshot struck his hand,” authorities wrote. “He then drove to the hospital for treatment.”
Jones was subsequently arrested and booked into jail, with a court appearance scheduled for Tuesday.
Leave a Reply