Jamir Thompkins was a promising 15-year-old sophomore at Dohn Community High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. Known to friends and family as "Bam," Jamir was described as a great kid who was loved by all who knew him. He was a dedicated A-student and a talented three-sport athlete, playing football, basketball, and running track. His football coach, Jared Ward, said Jamir "brought laughter in the room every time he stepped in."
The young Black man was working hard to make a better life for his mother and was set to start as running back in his school's upcoming homecoming game. His brother, Quay Stone, remembered him as someone who made him happy in every way, saying, "I feel like nobody can ever replace him."
On the evening of September 28, 2023, just one week before his 16th birthday, Jamir’s life was cut short. He and four of his football teammates had just left practice and were walking home after stopping for snacks at a Sunoco gas station in the Bond Hill neighborhood. At around 8:25 p.m., near the intersection of Paddock Road and Regent Avenue, a car drove by and an occupant opened fire on the group of boys. Jamir was struck by the gunfire and collapsed in the gas station parking lot, where he was pronounced dead. A second teenager in the group was also shot but survived with non-life-threatening injuries.
The Cincinnati Police Department’s Homicide Unit immediately began investigating the drive-by shooting. The community mourned the loss of another young person to gun violence, with Jamir being one of six teenagers fatally shot in the city that year. One week after the shooting, investigators from the Homicide Unit and the Crime Gun Intelligence Center arrested a 16-year-old in connection with Jamir’s death. He was charged with murder.
The suspect was identified as Carl’leeyon Anderson. Although he was 16 at the time of the crime, prosecutors moved to have him tried as an adult for murder and multiple felonious assault charges. Anderson was also charged with felonious assault in a separate drive-by shooting from August 2023 that had left another victim paralyzed.
In July 2026, Anderson, then 18, accepted a plea deal in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter and one count of felonious assault for the shooting that killed Jamir Thompkins. He also pleaded guilty to felonious assault for the August 2023 shooting. A judge sentenced Anderson to an agreed-upon term of 20 to 25.5 years in prison, bringing the case to a close as of July 2026.
