MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A shooting on the side of the interstate claimed his life. John Ryan Ingram was only 23 years old.
“About 2:00 that morning, I had had a dream that I was at John’s funeral, and I asked God, ‘What are you trying to tell me?'” Rhovonda Liggins said. “I prayed, and I went back to sleep.”
Liggins jumped out of bed hours later.
“Banging and screaming. All I could hear was, ‘Mom! Open the door! Mom, please come to the door!’ John’s been hurt!” Liggins said.
It was June 22. She found out Ingram was in the hospital.
“So actually on my way, I saw the accident,” she said. “I said then, I bet that is where my child was hurt.”
The ER doctor confirmed her suspicion.
“He said he had bad news. John is gone. He’s dead,” she said as she held back tears. “It was almost like I was having an out-of-body experience.”
Her mind was filled with faith-shaking questions.
“I felt like I had failed to keep him safe. That hurt. I had a conversation with him just a couple of weeks before that,” Liggins said. “I told him he was a good kid. He will go out of his way to help people, but I told him, John Ryan, you’ll be the one who ends up dead. Shot and killed. Everybody else will be okay, because you’re such a good guy, you’ll be trying to help somebody. For that to happen exactly like I told him, rips me on the inside.”
Court records state that on Sunday morning, a car pulled over on I-240 near the Airways exit. They went on to state an argument escalated when Robert Hudson “walked up to the car” and “pulled [a passenger] out by the hair.”
Ingram tried to help her, but when he intervened, Hudson reportedly shot Ingram in the chest.
Hudson is charged with second-degree murder.
He was out on a $10,000 bond in connection to multiple people who were shot in a neighborhood in 2023.
His bond is now set at $800,000. The case is awaiting a grand jury.
“My question is, why?” Liggins said. “You can’t make me understand that. It hurts to see this precious city being torn apart by a few people that continue to perpetuate evil.”
Liggins vows to fight for change in her son’s honor.
“The mothers. We’ve got to get together. Everybody that holds an office in Tennessee, we are going to have to bombard their offices with letters and visits. Everything we need to until we get laws changed,” she said.
Dr. Benjamin Smith said he hears her call for action loud and clear. He’s the senior pastor at Ingram’s church, Miracle Temple Ministries in Southaven.
“Just listening to her, I still feel tears coming,” he said. “[Ingram’s death] literally gave the church a cloud that we have not been able to recover from as of yet.”
Smith said he will help Liggins fight for change. He stressed root issues must be addressed, people must get to know their neighbors again, offer support and prayer.
“I love this city, but I’ve seen the decline in so many facets,” he said — Ingram’s death being one of them.
He was set to join the Air Force this month. He was funny, smart, caring and genuine. His mother said his laugh was infectious.
“All of those things are things I miss. I never got to see him get married or have kids,” she said.
Liggins has since found a journal in his room.
“It was funny, because he said if you are not John, you should not be reading this journal,” she said.
But she did.
Before his passing, he wrote, “God is right beside me every step of the way.”
“Every page he talked about his relationship with God,” she said.
The journal now provides her some comfort.
“It helps me. It helps me,” she said. “However, it does not bring him back.”