Officers cleared after man shot 58 times

MEMPHIS — Five Tennessee officers who fatally shot a man 58 times after he wounded a sheriff’s deputy did not break the law, a prosecutor said.

Members of the Shelby County sheriff’s office Fugitive Apprehension Team went to a trailer park in Memphis in September 2019 to look for Willie Hudson Jr., who had a felony arrest warrant for attempted first-degree murder, Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich said Thursday.

Hudson, 33, was found hiding behind a bookcase in a trailer and refused orders to come out, authorities said.

Hudson began shooting as officers pulled back the bookcase, authorities said. One officer was critically wounded before the officers returned fire, authorities said. In two rounds of shooting, officers shot Hudson 58 times, officials said.

Weirich said the number of shots doesn’t affect whether the shooting was legally justified. She said the officers were there to make a lawful arrest during an “unexpected, life-ordeath gunfight in close quarters.”