Background: The Charlestowne Shops shopping center in Memphis, Tennessee (Google Maps). Inset: Marquis Byers (Shelby County Sheriff”s Office).
When a woman saw her daughter’s stolen Hyundai Sonata at a Tennessee shopping center, she tried to retrieve it — only to be shot multiple times by a man, authorities say.
Marquis Byers, 23, has been charged with aggravated assault in connection with the incident, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show. He is being held in the Shelby County Jail on a $125,000 bond.
On Wednesday, a woman was driving in the area of Charlestowne Shops shopping center on Mount Moriah Road Extension in Memphis, Tennessee. As she drove, she saw her daughter’s stolen 2011 Hyundai Sonata in the parking lot and approached it, according to court documents reviewed by local CBS affiliate WREG.
The mother parked her own vehicle to block the Sonata so that someone couldn’t get away with the car, she told authorities. She then got into the Sonata, closed the door, and looked down to open the hood when suddenly she heard several gunshots.
She had been shot in both legs.
She reportedly looked up to find two men getting into a black BMW. The mother called 911, and Memphis police officers arrived at the scene.
Officers are said to have tied two tourniquets to the mother’s legs to stop her bleeding from the gunshot wounds. She was taken to a nearby hospital in non-critical condition.
Officers reviewed nearby surveillance footage and said they saw a black-clothed man — alleged to be Byers — get out of the BMW, approach the driver’s door of the Sonata, and fire several shots, hitting the mother in the legs.
A woman then exited the BMW and confronted Byers, authorities said. Another man grabbed the gun that Byers allegedly dropped, and the two men left.
The woman reportedly stayed behind to help the shooting victim.
The BMW was tied to Byers and his two associates, who were not charged as of Thursday, WREG reported. Byers was arrested and booked into jail.
He appeared in court this week. It is unclear when he is set to return.
