Memphis officer, 18-year-old suspect killed in early-morning gunfire exchange

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A police officer and an 18-year-old suspect were fatally shot in an exchange of gunfire that injured two other officers and a 17-year-old early Friday in Tennessee, police officials said.

Memphis officers responded around 2 a.m. to a report of a suspicious vehicle, interim Police Director CJ Davis said at a news conference. When officers approached, Davis said, the occupants of the vehicle fired on them, and officers returned fire. Three officers and two suspects were struck by gunfire.

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The suspect drove off, and police followed until the vehicle stopped a few blocks away. Davis said one suspect was taken into custody immediately and a second was found nearby.

A Memphis Police vehicle sits outside the Memphis Police Department Entertainment District Unit. (Photo By Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)

One of the officers struck by gunfire, Joseph McKinney, died, she said. A second officer was taken to a hospital, where his condition was upgraded to noncritical. A third officer grazed by gunfire was treated at the scene, she said.

Two suspects, an 18-year-old who was driving the vehicle and a 17-year-old, were taken to a hospital in critical condition, where the 18-year-old died, Davis said.

Davis said she did not know what prompted the call reporting the suspicious vehicle.

"The men and women of the Memphis Police Department are hurt right now. As chief of police, I am hurt right now," Davis said. "And once again, senseless deaths in our community by gun violence. Today, we are here not just to talk about what happened last night, but to make an appeal to our community that gun violence has to stop."

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Prosecutors were contacted, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will investigate, police said.