Memphis, TN – Laquarius King, 28, of Memphis, has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for multiple armed business robberies, during which he discharged a firearm. The sentence was announced by D. Michael Dunavant, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee.
Between July 2, 2023, and October 2, 2024, King committed five robberies at the Exxon gas station on Appling Road and the Berryhill Market on Berryhill Road. On two occasions, he fired a round into the air next to a clerk who hesitated to open the cash drawer, incidents captured on store surveillance video.
King's crime spree ended on October 2, 2024, when an off-duty Memphis police officer witnessed a robbery, called 911, and followed the suspect vehicle. Active police units joined the pursuit, leading to King's apprehension.
In February 2026, King pled guilty to five counts of robbery of a business and two counts of discharging a firearm during the robberies. Chief United States District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman handed down the 360-month federal imprisonment sentence on May 29, 2026, to be followed by five years of supervised release, noting there is no parole in the federal system.
U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said, "King’s violent crime spree is over. His lifestyle of lawlessness and selfish greed terrorized multiple victims – and has rightly earned him a long sentence in a federal prison that will remove him from the community and protect Memphians." The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Memphis Police Department’s Safe Streets Task Force investigated the case.