[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
According to authorities in Memphis, Tennessee, a woman named Tanieka Ray (pictured above in her mugshot) has been charged with attempted first-degree murder following an incident that unfolded late Saturday morning in a South Memphis neighborhood on Gilleas Road.
There, police claim Ray intentionally used her SUV as a weapon against her ex-boyfriend, striking him and then running him over multiple times as he tried desperately to get away.
WTF?!
The victim, whose name has not been released, reportedly slipped and fell into a neighbor’s yard after the first impact. What happened next is something neighbors say they will never unsee.
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One witness told police he heard chaos outside his home and stepped out to investigate, only to see Ray allegedly making U-turns in the street while the injured man lay on the ground screaming. Per Action 5 News, neighbor Carlos Brantley recalled:
“She was going to run him over again and was going to kill him.”
The unnamed victim later told officers that after the initial hit, Ray allegedly ran him over three to four more times while he was trying to flee.
Eventually, she sped away from the scene, only to crash the SUV into a utility pole down the road, plunging the area into darkness and escalating the danger even further.
After the crash, Ray reportedly abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot. She was later located at a residence in South Memphis and taken into custody.
Brantley was able to identify her in a lineup after the arrest, per Us Weekly and others.
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The injured man was found propped against a fence and brought onto Brantley’s porch, where he waited until first responders arrived. He was transported to the hospital in critical condition with multiple fractures and dislocations so severe that surgery was required. Brantley recalled:
“She almost killed him, man — broke both his hips, broke one of his legs. You know, he’s in bad shape, but he’s going to be alright.”
Brantley later described the terrifying scene in even more detail, recalling how helpless everything felt as it was happening in real time:
“I was sitting in the house and heard some kind of ruckus out here and I said, ‘Let me see what’s going on’ and by the time I get outside, I see my neighbor, Arthur. He was laying in my driveway and laying down like he couldn’t get up and I rushed out, gave him some aid. As I was doing that, the perpetrator was currently going up and down the street, taunting us.”
Even as Brantley tried to help, the danger hadn’t passed. He recalled:
“I flagged his brother down. His brother came and helped me, took him on the porch to get him out of harm’s way. During that, the girl kept going up and down the street until she finally hit the light pole and knocked the lights out and almost blew up the whole block. I’m talking about everything was lit up.”
As for the motive, nothing has been officially confirmed. However, Brantley offered a grim theory rooted in rejection:
“I guess she was trying to get back with him, and he just didn’t want to have any dealings with her no more, and she just went crazy.”
Ray remains in jail as of this writing. It is not yet known whether she has entered a plea or obtained legal representation.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, or go to https://www.thehotline.org/.
[Image via Shelby County Sheriff’s Office]
