Man mistakes girlfriend’s brother for car thief and opens fire

MEMPHIS, Tennessee — A Memphis mother says her 17-year-old son is lucky to be alive after he was shot multiple times by her daughter’s boyfriend when the boyfriend mistook the teen for a carjacker.

Frank Winding, 46, was booked into the Shelby County Jail on Thursday on charges of attempted second-degree murder and use of a firearm during the commission of a felony, nearly two months after the shooting.

Rosalyn Henderson said her son was shot in both legs and the foot and is still recovering from his injuries. She believes the charges against Winding are appropriate.

“Yes, he did shoot him, because he shouldn’t have shot anybody if he didn’t know who it was. It could have been anybody. He could have lost his life,” Henderson said.

Henderson said her daughter paid her brother $5 to clean her car parked outside their apartment building on Camelot Manor, near Knight Arnold.

Henderson said her son waited until early morning to start, and when Winding went outside to get something from the car, he thought someone had broken into the vehicle and opened fire.

“He was on the driver’s side. He was cleaning up and he said he saw his feet hanging out. So he didn’t know who it was until, I guess, he got to the other side and started shooting,” Henderson said. “I didn’t understand it. If you knew there was someone over there and when you got there before you saw his feet, you should have looked up and seen his face.”

Police said after Winding shot his girlfriend’s brother, he told the victim he had made a mistake and took him to the hospital. Henderson said his daughter also went to the hospital and told him he had put her brother in a wheelchair, pushed him inside and left.

“I was scared. I know I was scared. I was scared,” Henderson said.

In Tennessee, a person is not justified in using deadly force to prevent or stop another person’s unlawful trespass on real property or unlawful interference with personal property. Henderson said her son still walks with a limp.

“I hate that this happened to him,” she said.

According to court records, in 2021, Winding was charged with aggravated assault after threatening a gas station employee with a gun, but the charges were later dismissed.

Winding is being held on $100,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

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(tags for translation) Frank Winding