(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) -- Memphis police arrested two men Tuesday afternoon in the early morning shooting death of an off-duty Memphis police officer after an argument at a party.
Officer Clayton Hicks, 26, was shot shortly before 4 a.m. Tuesday outside 2692 Fizer, near Kimball and Lamar, after an altercation with another man.
Police had been looking for two men and a woman last seen in an older-model gray four-door Cadillac.
Late Monday, Hicks and a relative were at an Amoco station in the 2800 block of Lamar when an acquaintance invited them to a party on Fizer. They arrived at the party about 11:45 p.m., Deputy Director James Bolden said. Early Tuesday, a woman at the party who recognized Hicks as a police officer began arguing with him, Bolden said. The argument led to an altercation between the woman’s boyfriend and Hicks.
Outside the home, several shots were fired and Hicks was struck once. He died at the scene. Bolden said that Hicks was armed, but that there was no evidence he had fired his weapon. He would not comment on whether Hicks had radioed or attempted to call police dispatchers for assistance.
Police were summoned to the home by a 911 call placed from a neighbor’s home that an off-duty officer had been shot.
Homicide detectives questioned witnesses from among the 11 people at the party.
“We are devastated,” said Bolden. “My heart goes out to his family and co-workers.”
Hicks, an officer since January 1998, was assigned to the Southeast Precinct, just blocks from where he was killed.
The two suspects, ages 28 and 25, had not been charged late Tuesday.
(iSyndicate; The Commercial Appeal; Nov. 15, 2000). Terms and Conditions: Copyright(c) 2000 LEXIS-NEXIS, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights Reserved.