Background: The Walmart located on Austin Peay Highway in Memphis, Tennessee (Google Maps). Inset: Elijah Jones (Shelby County Sheriff”s Office).
While seated outside a Walmart in Tennessee, a woman discovered her car had been hit by a bullet. It was later revealed that a man accidentally shot through his own hand, with the bullet striking her vehicle, according to authorities.
Elijah Jones, 23, faces charges of reckless endangerment after allegedly firing a gun from within a car, as indicated by court documents. He has been taken into custody, and his bail is set at $100,000. More details can be found here.
According to an affidavit accessed by Law&Crime, the incident occurred around 7 p.m. on Saturday. The woman was in her 2013 Audi A4 parked at the Walmart on Austin Peay Highway in Memphis when she heard a gunshot. She soon noticed her rear passenger door had been hit by a bullet.
The woman recounted seeing the shot come from a white Chevrolet sedan, driven by a man who appeared to have a hand injury. The man then drove away from the scene.
Memphis Police Department officers arrived at the location, speaking with the woman and inspecting the damage to her vehicle. They uncovered a bullet fragment inside her car.
Investigators learned that Jones was in the emergency room of a nearby hospital “with a gunshot wound to his hand.” Officers also say they found a white 2017 Chevrolet Impala in the parking lot registered to him.
Inside, on the front passenger seat was a 10 mm Smith & Wesson M&P handgun, and there was a spent shell casing on the floorboard, the court document states. “Jones advised Officers that he was in the driver seat of his vehicle when he went to grab his gun from beneath the driver’s seat,” it goes on.
“As he picked up the weapon, it discharged, and the gunshot struck his hand,” authorities wrote. “He then drove to the hospital for treatment.”
Jones was arrested and booked into jail. He was scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.