CRIME

Teen slain in Zodiac Park attended Horn Lake High

Yolanda Jones, and Ron Maxey
The Commercial Appeal
November 2, 2016 - Holly Dean and Lee Wooley, her fiancŽe, comfort each other at the scene where Alana Tello, a 16-year-old student at Horn Lake High School, was shot and killed. Dean had been lifelong friends with Tello.

Alana Tello's last evening began at McDonald's in Horn Lake and ended hours later in a Memphis park where the 16-year-old, who would have been 17 Thursday, was shot to death in a dispute apparently stemming from a stolen cell phone, according to a lifelong friend.

Tello was pronounced dead at a park at 5226 Zodiac after a situation that began around 8:15 p.m. Tuesday. Five other victims — all from Mississippi — were shot. Another 16-year-old girl, an 18-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman were taken to Regional Medical Center. An 18-year-old old woman was taken by private vehicle to Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto in Southaven, but was later transferred to the Regional Medical Center. A 17-year-old girl was taken to LeBonheur Children's Hospital by a private vehicle and is listed in critical condition. All of the female victims at the Regional Medical Center hospital have been upgraded to non-critical condition.

No arrests had been made Wednesday afternoon. Police said suspects wearing bandannas walked up to the group and opened fire. The suspects fled the scene in a tan vehicle, police said.

Holly Dean, who said she grew up as best friends with Tello in Horn Lake, said she knew Tello was at McDonald's early Tuesday evening. The next thing Dean heard was that she was at Zodiac Park off  Holmes in Memphis near the Mississippi line, a place Tello never frequented as far as Dean knows.

"Last night, my friend called and told me everything that was going on, the fights and everything," Dean said. "First I heard that Alana was shot. Ten minutes later, I looked at my phone and they said she was dead."

Dean, 18, graduated last year from Horn Lake High School, where Tello was a 10th-grader. Dean said they had known one another all their lives because her mother and Tello's mother were best friends.

Alana Tello, 16, was shot and killed in Zodiak Park Tuesday.

"She (Tello) was great-hearted, very kind," Dean said. "She was sweet and would do anything for anybody. This time last year, I had no job, and she and her mom let me work for them just so I could have some money to get by.

"Last time I talked to her was at the gas station. She would always run up to my door and say 'Is that Holly D?' She would always call me by my last name."

Dean worked with Tello and Tello's mother at Southern Grub Restaurant on Nail Road in Horn Lake, which Tello's mother owns.

Dean described a friend with whom she spent every Halloween together — "We would hide from our moms so she could spend the night with me" — but who got involved with the wrong people.

16-year-old girl dead, 5 others injured in shooting at Zodiac Park

"She was one of the younger ones, so I think she was just following," Dean said. "I know her phone had been stolen, and there was a big fight. They were coming here, I guess, to fight one more time."

Friends and family poured out their grief on Facebook.

"Your smile was beautiful, your laugh was contagious and your soul was simply amazing! It is so hard to believe that your gone. I can't believe that someone can just take you out of this world. You had your entire life ahead of you!! " friend Brittney Rhodes wrote.

Neighbors said they heard 15 to 17 shots and saw a large group of young people, almost all of them white, fleeing the scene in upscale cars, including a BMW. Most of the cars had Mississippi plates, witnesses said.

John Jeffries has lived near  the park since 2004 and says he was unaware of any previous problems there. He said he knew something was going on Tuesday night because he heard shots and helicopters.

"It's ridiculous," Jeffries said. "Life should be worth more than that."

Memphis police investigate after several people were shot and a 16-year-old girl, who attended Horn Lake High, was killed at a Zodiac Park in Southeast Memphis Tuesday. A 17-year-old has been arrested.