Memphis Mayor-elect Paul Young (D) warned that a small population of criminals are “terrorizing” the rest of the city’s residents during an appearance on News Channel 3 on Tuesday after the death of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital employee Alexander Bulakhov.
Police told local media that Bulakhov was walking with his wife and two-year-old child on Sunday when a man wearing a hoodie pointed a gun at him and demanded his belongings. They report that he complied but attempted to wrestle the gun away from the assailant after it was pointed at his wife. He was shot in the struggle and died from the shooting.
The Memphis Police Department (MPD) issued a press release on Monday revealing they could trace the vehicle allegedly used by the suspects and arrested Marious Ward and Brandy Rucker. Both have been charged with first-degree murder.
Young (pictured above) declared to News Channel 3 that violent incidents like the death of Bulakhov “do not define who we are” and said “1 percent of our population” is “terrorizing our whole city,” referencing the recent spike in the city’s violent crime. In addition to the loss of life, Young pointed to the impact on Memphis’ reputation, urging that “our culture, our character,” and “our vibe that’s unmistakable” are what “should define” the city, and not the spark in violence.
Alexander Bulakhov died after being shot in Memphis Sunday night. The suspects are Marious Ward, 23, and Brandy Rucker, 22.
Memphis mayor elect Paul Young says incidents like this don't define who they are and they need to change the narrative. "1 percent of our population is… pic.twitter.com/l8deQf4Awo
— Expose Them (@ExposeDarkDeeds) November 14, 2023
He expressed his sympathies to the family in a statement released to the media Tuesday evening. In that statement, Young also pledged to launch “a hard-hitting crime plan” within his first 100 days in office to “combat this lawlessness” with “a multi-pronged, hard-hitting, and focused effort” to restore law and order.
Outgoing Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland (D) was grilled on the city’s crime by Fox 13 in August when a video showing an MPD officer being assaulted by a group of men spread online. He blamed lenient sentencing in the city’s court system, declaring that his administration and city police “have zero tolerance for gun violence,” but the “court system has tolerance.”
When asked about Bulakhov’s death, Strickland told News Channel 5 he was “devastated” by the tragedy and prayed for his family.
Earlier this year, it was reported that MPD’s number of officers has thinned by 22.6 percent, decreasing from 2,449 officers in 2011 to 1,895 officers at the end of 2022.
Prominent defense attorneys similarly told The Tennessee Star that lenient magistrates and judges in Nashville are similarly to blame for the release of Shaquille Taylor, the career criminal who allegedly shot Belmont University freshman Jillian Ludwig in the head, causing her death days later. One attorney explained that soft-on-crime policies are generally limited to Davidson County and Shelby County within Tennessee.
Felony aggravated assault charges against Taylor from a 2021 incident were dropped in May after Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Angelita Dalton heard from a panel of three doctors who claimed Taylor was mentally unfit to stand trial and that his condition would not improve with treatment.
Taylor was arrested again in September, this time for alleged car theft, but he was released on a low, $10,000 bond by Nashville magistrate Steve Holzapfel on September 23. He became a fugitive by missing a court date on November 3 before he allegedly shot Ludwig on November 7. She died on November 3.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Paul Young” by Paul Young. Background Photo “Crime Scene Tape” by Tony Webster. CC BY-SA 4.0.
