In the late afternoon hours of May 6, 2017, a day marked by the festive atmosphere of the Kentucky Derby, 18-year-old Jaylin Hobbs was fatally shot in the Chickasaw neighborhood of west Louisville. The incident unfolded around 4:45 p.m. near the intersection of 36th Street and Greenwood Avenue. Hobbs was later found wounded a few blocks away on a pedestrian walkway over the I-264 overpass at 36th and Dumesnil Streets.
He was rushed to University Hospital, but tragically succumbed to his injuries.
The investigation into the death of the male teenager moved swiftly, and within hours, a 16-year-old male was taken into custody in connection with the homicide. The suspect, later identified as Deshawn Banks, was charged with murder. Accounts of what transpired in the moments leading up to the shooting differed starkly. According to friends of Jaylin Hobbs, they were on their way to a store when they witnessed Banks shooting at other young people. They said Banks then pursued them, and Hobbs, who suffered from asthma and did not have his inhaler, was unable to keep up and was shot.
In his statement to the police, Deshawn Banks offered a contrasting narrative, claiming that he was the victim of an attempted robbery by Hobbs and his friends. However, authorities reported having surveillance footage that contradicted Banks's account of an attempted armed robbery. Police also confirmed that Jaylin Hobbs was not in possession of a gun at the time of the incident. In addition to the murder charge, Banks also faced three counts of attempted murder for allegedly shooting at other individuals. The death of Jaylin Hobbs was a profound tragedy for his family, who had endured a string of violent losses. His killing was reportedly the fifth homicide to impact his family in the span of roughly a year.
