Man who died in Shelby County Jail involved in September barricade situation, TBI says
A man was found unresponsive in his cell at the Shelby County Jail at 201 Poplar Ave. Wednesday morning, the Shelby County Sheriff's Office said in a press release.
The man was taken to Regional One Health and pronounced dead.
SCSO said the man was found unresponsive "shortly after 4:00 a.m." and said it was "apparently due to a suicide."
The Shelby County District Attorney's Office was contacted, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will investigate the death.
TBI identified him as Martin Perez-Estrada Wednesday afternoon, and said "the death does not appear to involve foul play, but a full autopsy will be performed as part of the ongoing investigation."
Perez-Estrada was arrested on Sept. 20 after an hours-long barricade situation just south of Bartlett, in the 6100 block of Ashton Road near the Raleigh Lagrange Road Summer Avenue intersection.
Perez-Estrada first became known to police in the waning hours of Sept. 19, when police say they responded to an armed individual call. When they arrived, police say a victim said his roommate had pointed a long gun at him. Officers knocked on Perez-Estrada’s home door and heard gunshots inside the apartment.
Following Perez-Estrada firing multiple shots, gas was deployed, and one officer was injured.
The FBI, SCSO and Memphis Police Department negotiated with Perez-Estrada, according to MPD Assistant Chief Shawn Jones. Jones also said Perez-Estrada fired his gun six times, with one bullet ricocheting and hitting an officer.
Perez-Estrada was charged with one count of criminal attempted second-degree murder, one count of employing a firearm with intent to commit a felony, eight counts of aggravated assault and ten counts of reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon. He was given a $500,000 bail, which he did not post.
A preliminary hearing for Perez-Estrada was slated for Oct. 12.
At least seven other people have died in the custody of the Shelby County Sheriff's Office in 2023, though not all of those deaths have taken place inside the Shelby County Jail. Since 2016, there have been at least 52 deaths at the jail — which includes a sharp increase in deaths and mortality rates over the last three years. Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner, who is a frontrunner in the Memphis mayoral race, has been in office for those three years. That increase mirrors a nationwide increase in jail deaths.
52 deaths since 2016: Why Shelby County Jail's mortality rates have been rising in recent years
The apparent suicide comes about a month after a 70-year-old man died at the Shelby County Jail, and at a time when SCSO and the jail are facing increased scrutiny following the death of Gershun Freeman, who died at the jail in October 2022.
Nine corrections officers now face criminal charges in connection to Freeman's death, including two men who have second-degree murder charges. Video released by Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk, who was assigned the case by a panel of district attorneys after Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy recused himself, showed officers chasing Freeman — who had run out of his cell naked — around the jail.
The video also showed those officers punching, kicking, pepper spraying, hitting Freeman with canisters and ultimately kneeling on his back for almost six minutes.
This story will be updated when more information becomes available.
Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Man found dead at Shelby County Jail was suspect in barricade situation
