The Jackson Police Department (JPD) was called to a shooting call on September 25, 2019, near the corner of Middleton and Neff Street in Jackson, Tennessee. Police found a man who had been shot in the head. Another person with similar gunshot wounds ran away from the car and was found nearby by cops.
The second victim lived through his injuries and said that Keenan Antonio Murphy, 21, of Jackson, was the one who shot him and the driver while Murphy was in the back of the car. Police looked for a suspect in the area, but Murphy could not be found at that time. The driver later died from his injuries.
There was a worried mother in the area who called the police on September 28, 2019, because her son hadn’t answered any of her calls or texts in twenty-four (24) hours. The young man who went missing was looked for, but at the time, the search was unsuccessful. When the victim was last seen alive, Keenan Murphy was with them as they drove away from 32 Greenview Drive in the victim’s car.
Officers from the Jackson Police Department were called to 55 Wyndelake Cove in Jackson on October 4, 2019, for another shooting. Police found a dead driver with a gunshot wound to the head. A second person who was shot and hurt in the back and hand lived through the event and ran away from the scene. Murphy was named by the second victim as the person who shot him and the driver from the back of the car. The victim who was still alive gave police a description of Murphy, and they began looking for him in the area.
Later that day, Police saw Murphy walking near North Highland Avenue and Old Humboldt Road. Murphy was arrested while wearing clothes that matched descriptions given by witnesses. Police found a .40 caliber Glock pistol on Murphy’s person.
When police interviewed Murphy, he admitted to killing the people on September 25 and October 4, saying that he did so while they were sitting in the back of the cars, just like the victims’ families had said. Murphy also said that from September 25 to October 4, 2019, he was the only person who had that gun. An expert looked at Murphy’s gun and the empty bullet casings found at both killing scenes and confirmed what he said.
A Madison County Grand Jury charged Keenan Antonio Murphy with two counts of murder on June 1, 2020. He was charged with the killings that happened on September 25, 2019, and October 4, 2019. Assault with a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony, First Degree Murder, Attempted First Degree Murder, and Aggravated Assault were all charges against Murphy by the Grand Jury.
At his trial, Murphy used a defense called “diminished capacity.” He used expert evidence to say that he killed someone because he was having a “manic episode” and wasn’t able to think things through before they happened. The jury found Murphy guilty of all charges in the accusation on December 17, 2021. Murphy was given a life sentence in prison for the hurt victim plus twenty-six (26) years to run straight for trying to kill the second victim on February 23, 2022.
The Madison County Grand Jury returned a final charge against Keenan Antonio Murphy on February 28, 2022. This time, it was for First Degree Murder in the death of the man who went missing in September 2019.
Keenan Murphy made a plea to the remaining charges on May 29, 2024. As agreed upon in the plea deal, the court gave him a sentence of Life without the Possibility of Parole and sent him back to the Tennessee Department of Correction to spend the rest of his natural life in prison.
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