Lee Thacker, a male from Memphis, Tennessee, spent his last evening at the Exxon gas station on Union Avenue in the city’s Medical District on Saturday, March 9, 2024. Just after 11 p.m., the station’s bright canopy lights and steady traffic along Union formed the backdrop to a confrontation that would turn deadly. Memphis Police officers were dispatched at approximately 11:15 p.m.
for a reported shooting at the Exxon at 1003 Union Avenue; when they arrived, they found Thacker suffering from at least one gunshot wound, and he was pronounced dead at the scene without ever making it to the hospital.
In the hours that followed, investigators pieced together what they could from witness statements and surveillance footage. According to summaries compiled from gun-violence tracking organizations, the violence appears to have stemmed from an argument among several people in the gas station’s lot, a dispute that escalated in a setting where multiple individuals were reportedly heavily armed. What may have begun as words exchanged amid the pumps and parked cars quickly erupted into gunfire, sending people scrambling for cover and leaving Thacker mortally wounded on the concrete before the area fell back into an uneasy silence broken only by sirens approaching up Union Avenue.
Memphis Police turned to the public almost immediately, hoping that the community could help them identify those responsible. Surveillance video from the Exxon captured the suspects and their vehicle, and detectives released the footage, highlighting a gray Chevrolet Malibu used as a getaway car in the moments after the shooting. Investigators said that two suspects left the scene in that Malibu, and police urged anyone who recognized the men or the car to call CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH, describing the case as an active, ongoing homicide investigation. No suspect names or detailed descriptions were made public, and beyond the initial indication that an argument preceded the gunfire, authorities have not shared a fuller account of what sparked the confrontation that ended Thacker’s life.
As the investigation continued, Thacker’s family and community gathered to mourn him. A funeral service was held on March 25, 2024, at R Bernard Funeral Services on Lamar Avenue in Memphis, giving relatives, friends, and neighbors a formal space to say goodbye. Online, a memorial page on the National Gun Violence Memorial site records his name and the date and place of his death, with candles lit in his memory and comments from those affected by his loss, quietly documenting that another life in Memphis was cut short by gunfire. Based on the latest publicly available reporting through late 2025, authorities have not announced any arrests, charges, or named suspects in connection with the shooting, and the killing of Lee Thacker remains an open case, with detectives still relying on community information to help bring those responsible to justice.
