Do you know who murdered Jacob Rice? Jacob Rice, a 24-year-old Black male, was killed late Monday night, April 18, 2016, inside a home on North 39th Street in Louisville, Kentucky. The shooting happened in the 200 block of North 39th Street near Alford Avenue, where Louisville Metro Police responded shortly after 11 p.m. and found that Rice had been shot and killed inside the residence.
The night unfolded suddenly.
Rice had been staying with his grandfather, Herschel Rice, for a few months when someone came to the side door of the home. Rice answered, and gunfire erupted. His grandfather later described finding blood and realizing his grandson had been shot. Bullet holes were left in the walls of the home, and Rice reportedly had multiple gunshot wounds. After being struck, he made it back up the stairs, and according to his grandfather, said he did not know the person who shot him.
Family members described Rice as peaceful and caring. His cousin Clarence Rice said Jacob had been studying nursing because he wanted to help people, and relatives struggled to understand why anyone would target him. His grandfather remembered teaching him practical skills like plumbing and maintenance and spoke about him as a good young man whose life ended without warning.
Police said a camera on the side of the home captured video of the shooting, but no arrests had been made in the immediate aftermath. Louisville Metro Police later listed Rice among 2016 open homicide cases, identifying the killing as a murder at 225 N. 39th Street. Available online information does not identify a named suspect, and no publicly available arrest, charge, trial, or conviction details were found in connection with Jacob Rice’s death.
