Two men broke into a Frayser apartment before dawn and beat a man in the bedroom. When one intruder, Devonta Johnson, pulled a gun and said “watch this,” the victim wrestled it away and took the fight outside, where he shot Johnson, who later died. The other intruder, Zarian Sanders, continued assaulting the victim.
Sanders chased the victim to another complex, struck him with a rifle, and the two struggled over that weapon as it discharged three times before Sanders fled. Sanders, a convicted felon, now faces four charges including especially aggravated burglary and firearm possession, with bond set at $150,000.
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MEMPHIS, TN — A man beaten by two intruders inside a Frayser apartment bedroom before dawn Tuesday wrestled a gun away from one of them, carried the fight outside, and shot him, according to the Memphis Police Department. Devonta Johnson died. The second man, 23-year-old Zarian Sanders, is a convicted felon and now faces four charges.
The break-in happened at an apartment complex on Madewell Drive around 4:40 a.m., as reported by WREG. Officers arriving on scene found Johnson suffering from a gunshot wound.
Police spoke with a woman at the apartment who said Johnson, her child’s father, showed up uninvited with another man. According to her account, the two kicked in her door and then moved the couch to block it. Then they went into the bedroom and started beating someone inside.
The man told officers the two who came into the bedroom were Johnson and someone he knew as “Shiesty,” later identified as Sanders. Both assaulted him, he said. Then Johnson said “watch this” and pulled out a gun.
The man grabbed for it. He and Johnson fought over the gun. Sanders jumped in, the man told police, because he was trying to take it away. He got the gun away from Johnson. He took the fight outside.
Outside, Johnson and Sanders kept assaulting him, police said. He fired one shot at Johnson. The only gun the account places in his hands is the one he had just taken from Johnson. The woman told police she heard a gunshot after the fight moved outside, and that Johnson, on the ground, told her the man from the bedroom had shot him.
It was not over. The man ran to another apartment complex, police said, with Sanders chasing him. He tried to get a resident to open a door. Sanders caught up first. He pointed a rifle at the man, threatened to shoot him, and hit him in the side of the head with it.
The two fought over the rifle. It went off three times. According to police, the man then gave the rifle back to Sanders, who ran off.
Two struggles over two guns in a matter of minutes, and he walked away from both with cuts, abrasions, and bruises. Weapon retention and disarming are trained skills with a high failure rate even under controlled conditions, and a rifle discharging three times mid-struggle shows how close this came to a different ending. The mindset is the transferable part. He refused to stand still and be shot, and he kept moving toward other people and a door that might open.
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The man later identified Sanders as the one who broke in and assaulted him. Police say Sanders pleaded guilty in September 2025 to theft of a firearm valued under $2,500, a felony conviction that is the basis for the charge of convicted felon in possession of a firearm.
Sanders is charged with especially aggravated burglary, aggravated assault, convicted felon in possession of a firearm, and employing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony. His bond is set at $150,000, and he is due in court Monday.
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