Rooming House Manager Indicted In Fatal Machete Attack On Tenant

June 23, 2022 – The manager of a South Memphis rooming house was indicted Tuesday in the death of a tenant last year who was killed with a machete following an argument with the manager over parking, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

Defendant Leaford Anderson, 53, was indicted on one count of second-degree murder. He is being held in the Shelby County Jail.

Investigators said Anderson and new tenant Edward Lee Brooks, 52, got into an argument the night of Sept. 17, 2021, over Brooks parking on the grass in front of the rooming house in the 1700 block of Marjorie St.

Several hours later, at around 1:30 a.m., the argument erupted again and soon became physical. Anderson pulled a machete and struck Brooks several times in the head, face, forearms and the left calf.

When police arrived Brooks was found unresponsive in the hallway where he was pronounced dead by paramedics.

The case is being handled by Asst. Dist. Atty. Brad Reasonover of the District Attorney’s Vertical Team 3 which prosecutes cases in General Sessions Division 11 and in Criminal Court Division 3.