Yolanda Jones

USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

A 74-year-old man died Monday after he was mistakenly shot by his elderly friend at a North Memphis home last week.

Family members said Maurice Horton went to visit his 82-year-old friend, Roosevelt Hodge, Friday evening at Hodge's home in the 2500 block of Hanwood. Hodge apparently shot Horton.

"It was mistaken identity," said Horton's nephew Michael Minor. "Mr. Roosevelt got confused and thought my uncle was a man he saw earlier in his yard. He shot my uncle but it was a mistake."

Memphis police initially sent out a press release Tuesday naming Roosevelt Hodge as the shooting victim and not the shooter. Police later sent a second press release at 11:37 a.m. Tuesday correcting the name of the man who was killed.

"Police got that wrong. My uncle was shot and killed by his friend," Minor said. "We don't blame the man."

Minor said his uncle owned an upholstery business in North Memphis and was a good man.

"It is real hard losing him," Minor said.

Minor lives around the corner from Hodge. He said his uncle, Maurice Horton, called him after he had been shot.

"We get around there and he is on the sidewalk," Minor said. "He said his friend shot him."

Minor said police took Hodge downtown for questioning.

Horton's son, Vincent Horton, said his father was a deacon and a trustee at Full Gospel Missionary Baptist Church on Manassas.

"We're sad and we don't blame Mr. Roosevelt," Vincent Horton said.

On Tuesday, Hodge was back at home when his longtime neighbor Callan Tucker went check on him and his wife around 11 a.m. She went into the home and was told by a family member inside that the couple was asleep.

"They are marvelous people," Tucker said. "I've known them all my life and they are good people. Mr. Roosevelt didn't mean to shoot that man. It was mistaken identity."

Tucker said she hopes her neighbor is not charged in the slaying.

Police said no charges had been filed late Tuesday.