Background: The Walmart located on Austin Peay Highway in Memphis, Tennessee (Google Maps). Inset: Elijah Jones (Shelby County Sheriff's Office).
A woman was sitting outside a Tennessee Walmart when she realized her car had been shot — later learning that a man fired a gun through his own hand and into her car, authorities say.
Elijah Jones, 23, has been charged with reckless endangerment regarding the discharge of a firearm from within a motor vehicle, court records show. He was booked into jail, and his bond was set at $100,000.
The woman said that on Saturday at about 7 p.m., she was sitting in her 2013 Audi A4 in the parking lot of the Walmart store located on Austin Peay Highway in Memphis, Tennessee, according to an affidavit obtained by Law&Crime. Suddenly, she "heard a gunshot and discovered that her rear passenger door had been struck" by a bullet.
The woman further stated that she realized that the shot had come from a white Chevrolet sedan and that a man — who was alone in the vehicle — "appeared to have an injury to one of his hands." The man drove away.
Officers with the Memphis Police Department responded to the scene and spoke with the woman. They also "observed the damage" to her vehicle, finding a bullet fragment inside it.
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.
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