Man arrested for shooting 3 people, carjacking vehicles in Memphis crime spree

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC/Gray News) - A 20-year-old man is accused of going on a crime spree that involved multiple shootings and carjackings.

Police say 20-year-old Courdarion Craft was captured and arrested on Sunday. He is charged with carjacking, first-degree murder, aggravated robbery, two counts of aggravated child abuse, intentional evade arrest in auto, and evading arrest.

According to the Memphis Police Department, Craft was involved in three shootings and two carjackings that took place on East Shelby Drive, Pilot Drive and Commerce Circle.

The crime spree started when investigators say Craft carjacked a woman in the church parking lot of Center Chapel Missionary Baptist church Sunday morning.

Police say he then went to a store on East Shelby Drive and shot and killed a man.

Craft at some point went to the area of Pilot Drive and is believed to have fired shots, however, there were no injuries reported there.

Craft then fled to Commerce Circle and shot two people. Police say the victims are two women and one is listed in critical condition.

At some point, Craft carjacked another vehicle that police put an alert out for.

Later on Sunday, police apprehended Craft after a brief foot pursuit.

WMC spoke with resident Daniel Israel who said crime like this has people on alert, and they’re trying to figure out solutions to curb it themselves.

“Memphis is going through a crisis right now. [It’s] something we have been trying to get a hold of for years at a time. You’re on church grounds, doing bad stuff... like God is going to punish you for that,” Israel said.

Police say Craft had been out on bond and was previously charged with attempted first-degree murder, but that case was dismissed.

The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office spoke out about the crime.

“Different judicial commissioners are going to consider public safety as a factor to determine the bail,” said DA Steve Mulroy. “To me, public safety is always a relevant consideration in a bail determination. We are going to insist it on these cases.”

Mulroy is blaming a criminal court judge for why Craft was out on bond in the first place.

“After the Courdarion Craft incident, we received inquiries about the bond that had been established. It’s important to clarify that our office does not set bonds,” he said. “This responsibility lies with judicial commissioners and judges. However, we can recommend that bonds be revoked, as we did in Craft’s case. Today, our efforts were successful, and a judge has revoked all of Craft’s bonds, ensuring that he remains in jail.”

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