Kohnali Hunt, an 18-year-old Black man from Caruthersville, Missouri, was a former student at the local high school in a community where many people knew each other. His death prompted the school district to increase security as a precaution, not due to any specific threat, but to support grieving students and staff who were friends and family of Kohnali.
In the early hours of Sunday, April 21, 2024, a shooting occurred in Blytheville, Arkansas.
At approximately 1:30 a.m., police officers responded to the 100 block of South Division Street and found Kohnali Hunt suffering from a gunshot wound. First responders took him to the Great River Medical emergency room, and he was later transferred to Regional One Health in Memphis, Tennessee, where he died from his injuries. A second person was also wounded in the incident.
The Blytheville Police Department’s investigation led to the arrests of several suspects, all from Hayti, Missouri. The men taken into custody included Omarion Grant, Rodney Hamilton-Jones, Tyleik Moore, Dion Grant, Keion Hamilton, and Jaquavion Edwards. An unidentified juvenile was also arrested.
Five of the men—Omarion Grant, Jaquavion Edwards, Tyleik Moore, Rodney Jones, and Prince Black—were charged with first-degree murder. The case against them, however, faced significant challenges in court. During the initial trial proceedings in June 2025, several subpoenaed witnesses left the courthouse during jury selection and did not return. They were later located and arrested in Missouri before being brought back to Arkansas.
When the case was retried in July 2025, the state’s key witness changed her testimony on the stand. According to the prosecutor, this undermined the ability to establish the identity of the alleged shooters. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict, resulting in a mistrial.
On March 9, 2026, the Second Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney's Office filed a motion to dismiss the first-degree murder charges against all five men. The prosecutor stated that "significant witness issues" made it impossible for the office to ethically pursue the charges. Following the dismissal of all charges, the murder of Kohnali Hunt remains unsolved as of March 2026.
