Wilbourn
The man charged with this summer’s shooting death of Memphis Police Department [MPD] officer Sean Bolton was indicted on federal charges Tuesday.
The indictment for Tremaine Wilbourn, of Memphis, was issued Tuesday by Edward Stanton III, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee.
Wilbourn was indicted on one federal count of carjacking, which happened in a separate event before he shot Bolton; one count of possessing a firearm during and in relation to the carjacking; and one count of felony possession of a firearm.
Wilbourn faces prison terms of life plus 25 years if convicted of the crimes and sentenced fully for all of them. He also faces fines of $250,000 for each count.
On Saturday night in August, the MPD received a call from one of their own radios after a citizen found Bolton and used his radio to call for help. Bolton was shot multiple times and later died at the Regional Medical Center.
Bolton
Before he was shot, Bolton had approached a 2002 Mercedes-Benz that was parked illegally on Summerland Avenue in Parkway Village. A passenger in the vehicle, later identified as Wilbourn, confronted Bolton. A brief struggle ensued between the two, and Wilbourn allegedly shot Bolton multiple times. The driver of the vehicle and the suspect fled the scene, but the driver later turned himself into police. He was released without charge.
Wilbourn turned himself in the following Monday.
The indictment comes on a day when the Memphis City Council considers an honorary street name change for Officer Bolton. It also falls on the day the state’s case files on the Darrius Stewart shooting were released to the public.