Memphis police investigate double homicide in Northeast Memphis

Memphis police are investigating a double homicide at a Northeast Memphis apartment complex where five people have been killed in the last three years.

Officers responded to the shooting around 10 p.m. Monday at the Sycamore Lakes apartments in the 2100 block of Westchester Circle, off Sycamore View and Raleigh-Lagrange Road.

The two men, a 19-year-old and a 21-year-old, were pronounced dead in the parking lot from gunshot wounds. Police said the shooting may have stemmed from a drug deal.

Police spokesman Louis Brownlee said in an email Tuesday that the driver of the car told police that he and two other men were sitting inside the vehicle when a fourth man walked up, placed a gun in the window and attempted to rob them.

That is when the other man in the car pulled out a gun and placed it to the head of his friend, according to police. The two men fought over the gun and it discharged hitting both men. Both got out of the car and collapsed.  

The fourth man fled on foot from the complex.

This is the second homicide this year at the apartment complex where five others have been killed since 2014.

In 2014, Larry Wilkins, 37, who lived at the complex, was trying to sell his Ford Mustang on Craigslist when he was robbed by suspects who pretended they wanted to buy the car.

In 2016, Eddie Tate and his pregnant girlfriend, Edwina Thomas were shot and killed outside the complex. Police said two women attempted to steal a hair weave from them and the couple and their unborn child were killed.

In January, Catherine Wicker, 81, was killed after a purse snatching outside her son's apartment. She died from injuries after she was run over and dragged by the suspect's car as he fled.

No arrest has been made in Wicker's death or in Monday's fatal shooting.

Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 901-528-2274.