Teenage brothers show up on police radar as young as 11 years old
SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — Just before midnight on March 7, a man and his girlfriend were the victims of a brazen crime in Frayser.
“They kicked in the door,” the male victim said. “They came in and started jumping me.”
They didn’t want to show their faces for safety reasons, but said they knew the attackers well — a 13-year-old boy, a 15-year-old boy, their mother and uncle.
Court records state the 13-year-old was armed with a handgun. He used that gun to strike the male victim several times in the head and face before putting the gun to his head while his brother punched and kicked the victim. Police say the family then ransacked the residence.
“I was really in shock that they were doing it,” the male victim said. “You know, I have been knowing them since they were kids.”
He says the kids are now unrecognizable. Their mother was arrested two days later for aggravated assault and aggravated burglary.
“I don’t want the kids to go to jail, but at some point, you’re constantly doing this and doing this. At some point, you have to be held accountable for what you’re doing,” he said.
The two teens have a long rap sheet that has played out in almost 20 Memphis police reports in the past two years.
Some state the boys ran away from home. Others tie them to vandalism, car break-ins and, even though they are not old enough to drive, multiple vehicle thefts.
Officers say some of the stolen cars were flipped, crashed, damaged and ditched. One of them was Dorian Berry’s Kia.
“It seemed like they gave chase. They hit something,” Berry said in an interview with WREG in April 2023. “It’s like, how can you be out here causing this havoc at 2 or 3 in the morning? You’re not accountable to be somewhere?”
A month after Berry’s car was stolen, police said they caught the boys again. They say their ankle monitors pinged at a vacant apartment where some appliances had been taken.
Officers noted the boys were also wearing ankle monitors in at least two more reports when they ran away from home.
“Trying to survive on the street, because they’re living a hard life at home,” the male victim said. “The road they are going down now, they will be dead or in jail.”
The boy’s mother has been charged before. Police said the youngest son was shot, and while she was at the hospital, police found out she lied about another investigation pertaining to her other son’s involvement in a motor vehicle theft. That charge was later dismissed.
Police reports state the brothers started getting in trouble right around COVID. Around the same time, officers noticed an uptick in juvenile crime and blamed viral videos on social media that showed how easy it was to steal a car.
Police also noted when the younger boy was just 11 years old, his mother claimed he had already joined “a neighborhood juvenile gang.”
“Putting the stress on education, and all these things we want to see do. But to just let two brothers run loose? Where are the parents at?” Sheriff Floyd Bonner asked.
We found other juveniles who seem to have no regard for their ankle monitor, either.
Dozens of reports detail juveniles wearing ankle monitors when they ran away from home, or were found somewhere they shouldn’t be. A few were tied to crimes like a shooting or carjacking.
We spoke to one woman who found an ankle monitor that someone had cut and tossed in her backyard. She says it had been there for a week or two when she called police.
“I was doing stuff in my backyard, and I saw something black and shiny and thought this is odd,” she said. “No one knocked on my door or left a note saying they had a signal in my yard or anything.
She says police couldn’t tell her where it came from.
The company listed on the ankle monitor is the same company that has a contract with Shelby County Juvenile Court.
Dr. Brenard Williams, who is the Shelby County Juvenile Court’s Youth Justice Administrator, said it’s “very rare” something like this would happen.
He can’t comment on specific cases, but assured us staff monitors every juvenile at all hours. If something goes wrong, they immediately contact the parent, then police.
“We have 24-hour supervision on those,” he said. “As soon as we see noncompliance, the alarm bell is ringing. In fact, from my position all the way down, we’re watching compliance.”
Williams said they assess every child brought into their building and have determined some need intensive supervision with multiple check-ins every day.
He says that was harder to do before they recently convinced the County Commission for more funding to create a new position called Youth Development Specialist. Basically, they’ll work with each child from pre-adjudication to post-adjudication.
He said they will build relationships and get the child and their family what they need to break the cycle.
“Making sure they’re connected to services they need help with. Getting to an appointment or making sure that they have the appropriate transportation. Whatever those lack of resources are, they’ll be the people that are able to support us,” Williams explained.
He also said since the new hires and with more community partners stepping up, there have been fewer violations.
Williams said they will continue to study the data but stressed an ankle monitor is just a device. He stressed some kids need daily check-ins and more support, which is what they’re trying to do.
It’s something the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission has also pushed for. In its annual report, it stated the county is on track to develop that intensive supervision and rehabilitation system.
But the crime commission stated the county is behind on addressing juvenile offenders who continue to commit serious crimes with assessments and appropriate interventions for non-violent offenders.
The crime commission reports there was a 36 percent increase in repeat juvenile offenders committing serious crimes last year compared to the year before.
“What’s going to happen this summer?” Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner asked.
He told WREG as of the end of April, the detention center was 80% full. He’s calling on parents to step up and keep a close eye on their kids.
Cooling Off Crime: A WREG Special Investigation
All this week, WREG Investigators are digging deeper into why children wind up on the wrong path and possible solutions.
Coming up on News Channel 3 at 10 on Tuesday, hear from a mother pleading for help and why it has many calling on the community to step up.
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