In December of 2019, concern grew for 63-year-old James Keith Hawkins when he hadn't been seen for some time at his residence in Norman, Oklahoma. The manager of the Apple Creek Estates apartments decided to request a welfare check, a decision that would uncover a tragic scene. On December 5, 2019, police officers entered Hawkins' apartment to find him deceased, the victim of a gunshot wound to the head.
The circumstances immediately pointed towards a suspicious death, launching a homicide investigation into the matter.
Investigators quickly honed in on a person of interest, 27-year-old Davante Hunter. Hunter was reportedly a frequent presence at the apartment complex and had a history of erratic behavior, with neighbors recalling instances of him screaming and yelling in the middle of the night. Evidence and statements from witnesses connected Hunter to the crime scene, leading to his arrest on a first-degree murder complaint the very next day, December 6, 2019. He was subsequently booked into the Cleveland County jail.
The investigation suggested that a confrontation between Hunter and Hawkins had escalated, tragically ending in the fatal shooting. While the specific motive for the altercation was not made immediately clear, the case against Davante Hunter proceeded through the legal system, with formal charges of first-degree murder being filed against him. The swift arrest brought some measure of resolution to a community shaken by the violent loss of one of its residents.
