J'son Markel Hunt, a 27-year-old male, was fatally shot on January 14, 2024, in a strip mall on West Huron Street in Pontiac, Michigan. The incident, which also left another man critically injured, marked the first homicide of the year in Oakland County. Hunt succumbed to a gunshot wound to the head.
Following an investigation by the Oakland County Sheriff's detectives, two suspects were taken into custody.
Evidence from the scene and statements from eyewitnesses led to the identification of 26-year-old Jermaine Lee Jackson of Pontiac as the primary suspect in the shooting. Another Pontiac man, 25-year-old Ja-Vontay Darnell Boykin, was identified as an accessory to the crime.
Jackson was apprehended in Detroit on January 25, 2024, while reporting for a mandatory probation meeting for a prior felony conviction. Boykin was taken into custody in Pontiac on January 20. Jackson has been charged with open murder, assault with intent to murder, and multiple firearms-related offenses, including possession of a firearm by a felon. He was denied bond. Boykin faces charges of being an accessory after the fact and lying to a police officer during a violent crime investigation. His bond was set at $250,000.
The mother of J'son Hunt, Telethia Hunt, has spoken out against gun violence and has been advocating for stricter gun laws following her son's death. She revealed that the man charged with her son's murder, Jermaine Jackson, was a convicted felon with a prior parole violation for weapon possession. Both Jackson and Boykin are being held at the Oakland County Jail.
