Welcome to Arrest Stories. A Memphis mother is facing a first-degree murder charge after a late-night confrontation inside her home left a young man dead on her front porch. Heres what may have happened.
On July sixteenth, twenty twenty-six, at approximately one fifty in the morning, Memphis Police Department officers responded to a shooting in the three thousand block of Travis Road in the Walker Homes neighborhood of southwest Memphis. When officers arrived, they found twenty-year-old Rodderius Morton lying in the front yard with a gunshot wound to the back of the head. Morton was pronounced dead at the scene by responding medics.
Thirty-six-year-old Kendra Scott was arrested at the scene. According to an arrest affidavit, Scott told officers she came home and saw a dude under my kids bed, and I did what I had to do. A neighbor reported that Scott was still holding the gun when he came outside and heard her saying, I shot him, I shot him.
According to the affidavit, Scott's thirteen-year-old daughter had invited Morton into the home at around one in the morning. Scott arrived home at approximately one thirty in the morning and was banging loudly on the front door, asking, Who's at my house? The daughter told investigators she grew frightened because Scott was visibly angry and carrying a gun. The daughter also told police that Scott had previously warned her, If I see a boy in the house, then I will put a hole in his a--.
The daughter eventually let Scott inside. Morton was found hiding under the bed in the girl's room. According to the affidavit, Scott yelled at Morton, Get out of my house, b--, and followed him toward the front of the home. The daughter told investigators she then heard a single shot. Officers recovered one spent shell casing on the front porch, as well as a Smith and Wesson black handgun.
Scott was charged with first-degree murder and employing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony. She is being held without bond at the Shelby County Jail. Her arraignment is scheduled for July twenty-fourth.
Scott's attorney, Blake Ballin, said, This incident started with the worst nightmare of any parent of a thirteen-year-old girl. Predictably, it ended in tragedy. One of the key questions in this case will be whether anyone could act rationally in this circumstance.
Retired law enforcement officer and firearm self-defense trainer Buddy Smith told local media that the known circumstances would not qualify under Tennessee's Castle Doctrine, noting the affidavit does not allege that Morton threatened the mother or anyone else at that time, and those alleged facts will likely be important issues for the court, and ultimately a jury.
All suspects presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Do not take this report as factual, always verify facts. Thanks for watching Arrest Stories.