Delmontae Rashun Moore was a 21-year-old Black man with a personality described as "wild, and loving." Known to some by the nickname "coota," he was a former student of Trezevant High School in Memphis, Tennessee. His life was cut short by gun violence in the winter of 2020.
On the afternoon of December 17, 2020, Memphis police officers responded to a shooting call at 4:41 p.m. at a residence on Cloister Avenue in the Parkway Village neighborhood.
At the scene, they located Delmontae Moore, who had sustained a gunshot wound. He did not survive his injuries.
Present at the scene was Moore's girlfriend, Talesha Walls. She initially told officers that she and Moore had been outside her mother’s home when she went inside to get something. Walls claimed that when she returned, she found Moore lying on the ground with a gunshot wound and immediately called 911. She repeated this same story to homicide investigators when they arrived.
As the investigation continued, Walls was taken to the homicide office for further questioning. After being read her Miranda Rights, she verbally agreed to speak with investigators. At that point, her account of the incident changed dramatically. Police stated that Walls admitted to shooting Moore with a handgun.
Following her confession, authorities arrested Talesha Walls. She was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Delmontae Moore and an additional charge of false reporting for providing a fabricated story to law enforcement. As of her arrest in December 2020, the case was set to proceed through the judicial system.
