Do you know who murdered Damon Talbert?
In the late hours of a Friday night in west Louisville, a discovery was made that would forever alter the lives of one family. On August 9, 2013, police received a report of a man slumped over the steering wheel of his Pontiac at the intersection of 22nd Street and Burwell Avenue. Upon their arrival just before midnight, they found 29-year-old Damon Talbert, a Black male, deceased inside the vehicle. He had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. A homicide investigation was immediately launched, as authorities worked to piece together the events that led to this violent end.
The pain of Damon's death was compounded by the fact that his family had endured a similar tragedy just three years prior. His older brother, Lashawn 'Sugar Shizz' Talbert, a well-known figure in the local hip-hop scene, was also killed by gunfire in August of 2010. While an arrest was made in Lashawn's case, Damon's murder remains an open wound for his loved ones, with no arrests made and no publicly identified suspects. His mother, Vickie Talbert, has spoken of the immense grief of losing two of her sons to gun violence, describing the devastating moment she arrived at the scene of Damon's death.
In the years that have followed, the investigation into Damon Talbert's death has continued, with his case listed among the open homicides by the Louisville Metro Police Department. Despite public pleas for information from his family and community activists, the identity of his killer or killers remains unknown. The circumstances surrounding the shooting are still unclear, leaving a family to grapple with unanswered questions and the enduring pain of their loss. Damon was remembered by his family as an employee of the Christ the King Child Care Center and was laid to rest the week following his death.
