18-year-old shot in face by stray bullet as she leaves her birthday party, TN cops say

Alison Cutler
·2 min read
2

Breanna Keys and her boyfriend were leaving her 18th birthday party when the sound of gunshots rang out in the Tennessee neighborhood, WMC reported.

Keys, who was planning to attend nursing school, was struck in the face by a stray bullet and now faces a long road to recovery, her family told WREG.

“She got wires all in her mouth,” Latrice Kennon, Keys’ mother, told WREG. “She’s missing five teeth. She got a trachea in her throat. No child should have to go through that.”

The shooting happened around 9:30 p.m. June 24 in the 500 block of Marianna Street in Memphis, WREG reported.

Keys and her boyfriend were both injured in the shooting, and her boyfriend had non-critical injuries, WMC reported.

“A car came speeding down the street just letting off shots,” Tamertrius Burks, Keys’ cousin, told WMC. “Next thing you know a vehicle beside us somebody got on the ground they started shooting back at the people that were shooting at them and Breanna got caught in the middle.”

Keys graduated from Melrose High School, which posted about her recovery on Facebook.

“We are sending our thoughts and prayers to one of our very own who was critically injured over the weekend,” the school said. “We are praying for Breanna Keys and her family, wishing for a full speedy recovery.”

Whitney Williams, a former education director at Redzone Ministries, which works with students at Melrose High School, posted a video of Keys in the ICU moving her hands and flashing a small thumbs up.

“The only way I can envision you is with that big, beautiful smile cheering on the athletes on the court or friends in the classroom,” Williams wrote. “Bre, you are what makes Melrose Golden: kind, respectful, hardworking and deserving…but, while you should be wrapping your birthday weekend, instead, you’re wrapped in cords at Regional One.”

Memphis police have not announced any arrests or named suspects in the shooting.

Anyone with information is asked to call 901-528-CASH, the Black Walls Times reported.

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