On the evening of October 7, 2021, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, emergency dispatchers received multiple calls reporting the sound of gunshots at The Social Murph apartment complex on Wenlon Drive. Responding officers arrived at a grim scene around 10 p.m. where they discovered 18-year-old O’Brien Deshaun Henley Jr. inside a white Chevrolet truck. He was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and was immediately transported to St. Thomas Rutherford Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries shortly after arrival. One witness recalled hearing approximately eight gunshots, a brief pause, and then four or five more shots.
O'Brien, a Black/African American male from Brownsville, Tennessee, was affectionately known as 'Pooky' to his family and friends. Described as a vibrant young man with a bright future, he was actively involved in sports from a young age and was pursuing a career as a barber, attending barber school at the time of his death. He had moved to Murfreesboro to live with his father and had graduated from high school. His mother, Crystal Watkins, remembers him as her only son and continues to seek justice for his death, stating that to know O'Brien was to love him.
The Murfreesboro Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division is actively investigating the homicide. Detective Richard Presley is leading the case and has followed up on multiple leads, though the investigation has been described as frustrating due to the lack of suspects. Investigators believe Henley was ambushed, as the shots were fired through the passenger side of his vehicle while he was visiting friends at the apartment complex. Despite numerous witness accounts and ongoing efforts, no suspects have been publicly identified, and no arrests have been made in the case. Law enforcement and O'Brien's family continue to urge anyone with information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, to come forward and contact Detective Presley or report tips anonymously through Crime Stoppers. The case remains open as his loved ones wait for answers and for his killer to be brought to justice.
