MPD: Over 600 shots fired calls into dispatch on New Year’s Eve, Day

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Memphis Police tell Action News 5 there were hundreds of “shots fired” calls from Memphians on New Year’s Eve and early into New Year’s Day.

Those calls are from all over the city, but more than 350 confirmed shots were fired in two areas of Memphis.

“Shooting a gun up in the air is one of the most dangerous things that you can do,” said Bennie Cobb with Eagle Eye Security Consultants. “You don’t have a designated target. What goes up comes down.”

From 9:00 p.m. New Year’s Eve until 6:00 a.m. New Year’s Day, Memphis police received 609 unconfirmed calls of shots fired.

“Rapid fire. Rapid fire,” said Binghampton homeowner Matthew Holmes

Police say 357 confirmed fired shots came from two different areas of Memphis near their Tillman and Airways Station precincts.

But, retired Shelby County Sheriff’s Office Captain Bennie Cobb says there were probably more.

“That to me tells me that the number of times they were alerted, that the ShotSpotter may have detected that it’s gonna fire, but I grant you and I guarantee you that there was at least 8 to 10 times more rounds fired in that nine hour period of time.”

MPD says the Tillman and Airways stations both have ShotSpotter, a gunfire detection tool.

Binghampton homeowners Matthew Holmes and Taylor Horner-Holmes have lived in the area for a little over a year.

“I just think it’s crazy that you’re shooting these shots and you have no regard for where they’re going over there landing or what effect they can have on other people,” said homeowner Taylor Horner-Holmes

The celebratory gunfire experienced over the holiday is the last thing they wanted to hear to ring in a new year.

“If they’re going to do something stupid, be smart about it have a state of awareness,” said Holmes. “I have two kids in here the last thing I want is a stray bullet to come through.”

The city installed ShotSpotter at the Tillman and Airways Station precincts in 2021.

The price tag on the three year contract is about $650,000 in federal grant money.

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