‘Senseless’: 15-year-old accused of killing church leader during Tennessee carjacking
The Rev. Autura Eason-Williams was a beloved Tennessee church leader known to greet others with a smile.
But her life was cut short when officials said she was shot and killed outside her Memphis home on Monday, July 18.
Now, a 15-year-old is charged with murder in what some in the faith community have called a “senseless” act of violence.
The teen suspect — whom the Memphis Police Department identified as Miguel Andrade — was taken into custody on July 19. Officers didn’t list attorney information for him in a news release.
Eason-Williams is remembered in social media posts as a wife and mother of four who welcomed others warmly.
“We join so many of you in shock and pain,” Jody Hill, president of the Memphis Theological Seminary, wrote on Facebook. “Autura was a real light and a well of deep care.”
Professionally, Eason-Williams was a pastor serving as the Metro District superintendent of the United Methodist Church’s Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference, the organization said in an online statement.
“We all are shocked and saddened by this senseless act,” the organization wrote.
Faith groups are mourning the loss after officials said Eason-Williams was found injured in a driveway at about 4:15 p.m. on July 18. She was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Eason-Williams had been shot several times during a carjacking along Whitehaven Lane, according to WHBQ and the Commercial Appeal.
About four hours after officers responded to the shooting, police said the pastor’s wrecked car was found near Lynchburg Street and Steuben Drive, about 20 miles away from where it was taken.
Later that night, another person reported being approached at gunpoint before two people took off in her car. Officers said cops tracked down the stolen car and took three young people into custody.
An investigation is ongoing, and a 16-year-old has been charged with theft. Andrade faces charges of “first degree murder, murder in the perpetration of a robbery, especially aggravated robbery, carjacking, and employment of a firearm during a dangerous felony,” officials said.
This story was originally published July 20, 2022 at 12:06 PM with the headline "‘Senseless’: 15-year-old accused of killing church leader during Tennessee carjacking."
