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2 dead, 2 injured in Memphis drive-by shooting

Sunday, 22 January 2017 9:38 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 22 January 2017 9:38 AM ]

Officers at the scene of a shooting which killed two and injured two others in Memphis, January 21, 2017 (Photo via WMC Action News)

A drive-by shooting in Memphis, Tennessee, has left two people dead and two others injured, officials say.

Four men in a black Chevy Impala opened fired on four other people in Whitehaven on Saturday, police said.

One person was killed at the scene and the other three were taken to hospital where one of them was pronounced dead later, police added.

One of the two hospitalized victims was in critical condition, officials said, noting the victims knew the suspects.

Neighbors said the shooters fired multiple shots from their automatic weapons while children outside were running from the bullets.

“The passenger had like a long shotgun, looked like to me, it was so long,” said neighbor Antonio Benson. “And was just shooting out and started shooting. And I told my husband, ‘get down,’ and we just hit the floor and the shots kept ringing.”

According to family members, Charles Jones, one of the two slain people, had a one-year-old baby and another on the way. The other dead man was Jones’ cousin.

“I can't believe that stuff,” Benson said. “Stuff happens so fast. You just got to be careful out here.”

“It's sad, man,” said Kelan Sherrod, a close friend of Jones. “Just...what I heard was bullets. They was riding up and down the streets shooting at each other, but there's so many innocent people out here man. I just don't know what to say.”

Statistics by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that firearms kill more than 33,000 people in the US every year, a number that includes accidental discharges, murders and suicides.

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