MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Instead of children at play, it was City of Memphis crews out at Orange Mound Park Monday, fixing bullet holes left in the equipment after Saturday’s mass shooting that left two people dead and seven others hurt.
Memphis Police say the two people killed were a 17-year-old boy and a 22-year-old man. They say the seven others range in age from 16 to 29.
“Out here just killing for nothing,” said David Fason, who grew up in Orange Mound.
This is the second time in two years a block party like this has turned bad in the neighborhood. It’s causing some Orange Mound activists to feel like all their good work is being undone.
Esther Cook Jones of Put The Guns Down Orange Mound said she and others spent time beautifying the park in 2023 to help families feel good about coming there with their kids.
“It seems like they’re trying to make us go backwards when we’re going forward fixing up our community,” Cook Jones said. “Making it the community that it used to be back in the day.”
Video from June 2023 shows a very similar scene to Saturday, with young people waving guns around amid giant crowds at the park, eventually leading to a fight and gunfire.
Given the park’s history, Memphis activist MaMaDee Mourning, also raised in Orange Mound, wants to know why the party was allowed to happen in the first place without a city-issued permit.
“Pulling that permit allows the police department to know what’s going on and they need to patrol," she said.
Mourning said she is tired after fighting for change for so long.
“I’ve fought here for 20 years and nothing changes,” she said.
But other Orange Mound community leaders, such as Cook Jones, want to keep going.
“I know this. We will not falter,” Cook Jones said. “We will not let the devil win.”
Memphis Police have not made any arrests yet and are still searching for suspects, saying at least two people fired shots.
ABC24 has confirmed the FBI is assisting MPD with this investigation.