By Jody Callahan
Originally published 12:33 p.m., July 24, 2011
Updated 10:46 p.m., July 24, 2011
Two people were killed Sunday morning after a domestic-violence incident spiraled out of control and led to a shootout with police.
Neighbors identified one of the victims as Larry J. Redick Jr., 36, who owns the duplex at 3670 Rhea where the shooting occurred, in the Berclair-Highland Heights area of northeast Memphis.
Also killed was Redick's wife, Latarsha Moore Redick, a security guard at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. A hospital spokeswoman said she was an employee of Guardsmark, assigned to St. Jude for the past 11 years, adding "We are saddened by this tragic event, and our thoughts are with her family."
According to court records, the Redicks married in November 2008. Her Facebook page says she graduated from Earle High in Earle, Ark., in 1997.
"He (Redick) did not bother nobody. He would be the last person we'd think on earth (would do this). We are totally shocked by this situation," said a neighbor who did not want to be identified.
Officers responded to a call of domestic violence at the home just before 10 a.m.
"When officers went up there, they knocked on the door. They could hear the female asking for officers," Memphis Police Lt. Col. H.K. Starnes said. "They tried to kick the door in because they could tell she was in distress. (Redick) came to the door and pulled out a pistol."
At that point, officers and Redick exchanged shots, Starnes said, and Redick retreated inside.
Police called for more cars, and a call went out over the radio that shots could be heard from inside the home.
The scene turned into a standoff as police waited outside for a tactical unit and hostage negotiators. Then Redick re-emerged, firing at officers again, Starnes said.
Police fired back, striking Redick. He was wounded and transported by ambulance to the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, but later died. Officers found Latarsha Redick's body inside, and she was pronounced dead on the scene.
The couple's young son was outside the home and never in any danger, Starnes said.
None of the seven officers involved in the shootout was injured.
Police cordoned off Rhea from Homer to Flaut as dozens of neighbors -- some still clad in church attire -- looked on.
"I heard the first gunshot, where the man killed his wife. I thought it was fireworks," neighbor Nancy Hill said. "Then I heard tires squealing and stuff. I looked out the window, and that's when I saw all the squad cars."
Terry Wooder, who lives next door to the duplex, said dozens of shots were fired during the incident, some of them striking other homes on the street.
"It sounded like a war was going on down here," he said.
-- Jody Callahan: (901) 529-6531
Reporters Chris Conley and Scott Carroll contributed to this story.
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