On a summer afternoon in Memphis, Tennessee, the life of 26-year-old Corrisha Teal was tragically cut short. On June 14, 2019, while moving into her new apartment on Birch Lake Drive, an altercation with a neighbor turned deadly. Teal, a female, was with two relatives and a friend, unloading her car when Terrell Craft, a fellow resident of the complex, approached them.
According to witnesses, Craft stared at the group without speaking.
After Teal said something to him and began to walk away, Craft pulled out a gun and shot her four times. The gunshots struck her in the head, back, and leg. After shooting Teal, Craft pointed his weapon at the three individuals who were with her. He then took a handgun from Teal's waistband before leaving the scene.
Following the shooting, Craft himself called 911. He later admitted to the police that he had killed Teal, claiming it was in self-defense and because she had disrespected him in front of the others. Corrisha Teal was transported to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
In May 2022, a Criminal Court jury convicted Terrell Craft, then 37, of second-degree murder for the death of Corrisha Teal. In addition to the murder conviction, the jury also found him guilty on three felony counts of aggravated assault. Craft appealed his convictions, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence and a jury instruction, but the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the judgment of the trial court in January 2024.
