Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

MEMPHIS, TENN. – A man is in critical condition at Regional One Hospital after an armed customer at a tire shop returned fire during a shooting at a Memphis gas station Tuesday morning.

Action News 5 reported that Memphis Police responded to a shots-fired call at the Express Mart near the intersection of Knight Arnold Road and Getwell Road in the Parkway Village area.

Officers spoke with a witness who said he saw a man and a woman arguing in the parking lot. Another witness attempted to intervene. The man then fired a shot into the air before opening fire toward The Tire Lab parking lot next door.

The owner of the tire shop told officers that approximately two shots were fired from the gas station parking lot. A customer at the tire shop got out of his vehicle and returned fire.

The first witness was unable to identify the suspects and told officers he believed they left the scene in a white Nissan. Additional officers later made contact with a wounded man at the intersection of Goodlett Road and Almo Avenue and identified him as the suspect. The Memphis Fire Department transported him to Regional One in critical condition.

Officers also spoke with the suspect’s girlfriend, who offered a different account. She told police her boyfriend was pumping gas when he began arguing with a group of about five men, and that one of those men said he was going to get his gun and started shooting.

The investigation remains active as Memphis Police work to reconcile the accounts and identify everyone involved.

More from USA Carry:

Self-Defense Insight

This incident is a reminder that violent encounters often unfold in seconds, in places as ordinary as a gas pump or a tire shop parking lot. The customer who returned fire was not engaged in a fight he chose. He was a bystander who, by witness and tire shop accounts, faced gunfire directed toward the lot he was standing in.

Tennessee law, like the law in every state, permits the use of deadly force in response to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm. The Second Amendment is a fundamental civil right, and the ability of a lawful citizen to be armed and prepared in that moment is exactly why so many Americans carry. Training, situational awareness, and a clear understanding of when force is legally justified are the foundation that turns a firearm into a tool of lawful self-defense rather than a liability.