MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A security guard accused of shooting a man to death in a Kroger parking lot after an argument over loud music has been charged with second-degree murder.
Alvin Motley was shot to death Saturday evening at a Kroger Fuel Center in Memphis.
“I’m still shaky thinking about it, you know. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the sound,” a witness said. “We have all been in arguments and you don’t just raise your gun up and shoot anyone because someone said something out of the way to you. It was just uncalled for.”
Gregory Livingston, 54, is a former police officer from Horn Lake, Mississippi, authorities there confirmed. Livingston was an officer from August 1998 until he resigned April 2001, a commander at the Horn Lake Police Department said.
State records show that at the time of the shooting he was not a licensed armed security guard. His license was expired and he was in the process of renewing.
A Kroger spokesperson said he was an employee of Allied Universal Security. That company’s Memphis office had no comment Monday.
“This man took the love of my life away from me. You didn’t give me no chance to have a future with my husband that I was about to marry in two months,” Rolanda Johnson, Motley’s fiancé said.
Family members said Motley was visiting Memphis for business and had several projects in the works prior to his death.
A witness told police the incident started as Livingston and Motley argued over the volume of music coming from their car. The witness said she told Motley to come back to the car, but he exited the car and told Livingston they should “talk like men.”
Memphis Police said Livingston told officers he had shot someone. A 9mm Glock 19 was recovered.
Livingston is in the Shelby County Jail on $1.8 million bond, charged with second-degree murder.
Motley’s friend sees this as more than just incidental, “So something in your head told you to kill him, and before you pulled your gun that was your thought. I feel that was a premeditated thought.”
Motley’s family believes first degree murder is a more appropriate charge.
The family has retained National Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump to represent them. Crump issued the following statement:
“My heart breaks for the Motley family as they grieve the tragic and preventable loss of Alvin. Kroger and companies that employ security have the ultimate responsibility to train and equip their employees and contractors on de-escalation techniques, similar to the training we’ve been advocating for law enforcement officers. There is no reason that a Black man trying to gas up his car should lose his life because his music was louder than what a security guard prefers. There is no question in my mind that this crime was racially motivated and a white person playing loud music in similar circumstances would be alive.”
Attorney Ben Crump
Crump plans to hold a news conference Tuesday.