Man Convicted of Killing Woman in Club

Oct. 7, 2021 – A 59-year-old man was convicted late Wednesday in the shooting death of a woman during an altercation at a South Memphis nightspot in 2018, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

    A Criminal Court jury convicted Ricky Hunter on counts of second-degree murder and convicted felon in possession of a handgun. He will be sentenced Nov. 19 by Judge John Campbell.

   The shooting occurred around 11:30 p.m. on July 3, 2018, at Brenda’s Rhythm & Blues Club at on Walker Avenue near South Bellevue Boulevard.

   Witnesses said Hunter got into an argument with Carolyn Thomas and then punched her in the face, knocking her to the ground. She got up and threw a beer bottle at him. The bottle missed him, but Hunter pulled a handgun at shot her in the shoulder.

   Witnesses said Hunter stood over her and pulled the trigger again, but the gun did not fire. They said he then left the bar, laughing as he walked out. Thomas, 48, was taken to a hospital where she died several hours later.

    Hunter is was convicted in 1998 in Florida of sexual battery with a deadly weapon involving a family member and was on the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry.

    The trial this week was handled by Asst. Dist. Attys. Nicole Germain and Joey Griffith of the District Attorney’s Crime Strategies & Narcotics Prosecution Unit which handles cases involving gangs and violent crimes.