Four women in a car came to a traffic light at the intersection of Chelsea Avenue and Pope Street in north Memphis December 12, 2022. The area has single-family homes and a church can be seen in every direction.
As they waited for the light to turn green four men approached on foot and started shooting into the car. It was as if the men were waiting for the car. After firing a dozen or more rounds, the men fled.
Numerous bullets hit the vehicle. Somehow none of the four was struck.
But one woman told police who arrived minutes later that she recognized one of the men as Daveon Nickleberry.
Nickleberry, she said, was a suspect in a homicide case and she was a witness to the murder.
Investigators soon issued a warrant for Nickleberry’s re-arrest. Six days later a citizen called CrimeStoppers to say that Nickleberry could be found in a home on Lake Grove Street, less than a quarter of a mile from the where the women were ambushed.
Nickleberry was taken into custody and charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and retaliation against a witness in a felony crime. Nickleberry’s court record includes a carjacking in which he was found guilty, as well as the pending murder charge.
Bond was set at $250,000 this time. Still at large: the other three gunmen.
Paid to the tipster who provided the fugitive’s hideout address: $700.
The case was one of four attempted murder cases solved last month thanks to people who called 528-CASH with helpful information. Other tips helped police make arrests in two murder cases.
