Photo Credit: Joshua J. Cotten
Seven people were shot and two killed in violence at a Memphis restaurant purchased by the rapper Yo Gotti.
The Memphis Police Department reports that officers were called to the 6980 Winchester Road address for the Prive Restaurant around 11:15 pm. Two men were found suffering from gunshot wounds. Once was pronounced dead at the scene, while another was transported to a local hospital where he was also pronounced dead. Police say five additional people, four men and a woman, arrived at hospitals in private cars.
The victims shot include a 35-year-old woman, 30-year-old woman, 25-year-old woman, 37 year-old man, and a 31-year-old man. According to police, around 40 bullets were fired on the scene in a shooting that stemmed from an altercation that began outside the restaurant.
“These senseless killings have to stop. Our gun laws in our country and state need to be reevaluated; we need common sense regulations limiting easy access to these weapons,” said Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland about the shooting. “In addition, our court systems needs to have zero tolerance for gun and violent crimes.”
Memphis rapper Yo Gotti—real name Mario Sentell Giden Mims—purchased the restaurant for his mother. After police arrived on the scene, they roped the restaurant off to investigate the shooting. The lawyer for the owners of the restaurant shared, “On behalf of Prive, they’ve been in business for 10 years, and nothing like this has ever happened at their establishment. It happened out in the parking lot and it ended up in a shoot out.”
“Nothing happened inside the restaurant. Despite conflicting reports, they were closing, and this happened at the end of the evening in the parking lot.” This shooting in downtown Memphis comes only days after six people, including three students, were murdered in a Nashville school shooting.