In the late hours of a Friday night in Antioch, Tennessee, a dispute escalated to a fatal conclusion, leaving two young men dead. DeArious Antonio Harris, a 23-year-old African American male, was one of the individuals who lost his life on February 14, 2020. The incident, which also resulted in the death of 18-year-old Craige Strickland of Memphis, unfolded in the parking lot of a Kroger grocery store.
According to the initial investigation by the Metropolitan Nashville Police
Department, the tragic events stemmed from an argument over a marijuana deal that had been arranged to take place in the parking lot. South Precinct officers were dispatched to the scene following reports of a shooting shortly before midnight. Upon arrival, they learned that Harris had been driven from the Kroger parking lot to a nearby Waffle House. From there, he was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound to the chest.
A short time after the initial dispatch, officers from the North Precinct responded to a call about a second shooting victim, Craige Strickland, who had been taken to General Hospital. Strickland succumbed to a gunshot wound to the head shortly after his arrival.
Detectives interviewed Harris's girlfriend and four men who had accompanied Strickland to the arranged meeting. Based on the evidence gathered at the scene, which included two firearms, and the information obtained from witnesses, authorities at the time stated their belief that Harris and Strickland had shot each other during the course of their disagreement. The investigation into the precise sequence of events was ongoing. While one online source suggests that a suspect was eventually arrested, convicted, and sentenced in connection with Harris's death, this information is not corroborated by official police statements or other news reports.
