A tragic turn of events unfolded in Caledonia, Mississippi, on the evening of Saturday, May 21, 2022, culminating in the death of 33-year-old Dustin Hoffpauir. Hoffpauir, a male resident of Columbus and native of Hancock County, was fatally shot at a home on Richard's Lane. The incident occurred just hours after a local high school graduation, a celebration that Hoffpauir himself had attended.
Responding to a disturbance call at approximately 7 p.m., deputies from the Lowndes County
Sheriff's Office arrived to find Hoffpauir deceased from a gunshot wound. The investigation into the shooting quickly centered on 18-year-old Justin Robert Coggins, who had graduated from Caledonia High School earlier that same day. Coggins was the son of Hoffpauir's fiancée, and photos from the graduation ceremony reportedly showed Hoffpauir with the teen. The motive for the shooting was believed to stem from a domestic dispute, although specific details were not immediately made public by law enforcement.
Following the incident, Justin Robert Coggins was arrested and charged with murder. At the outset of the investigation, both Coggins and his mother reportedly requested an attorney and were not forthcoming with information, leaving investigators to piece together the events that led to the fatal shooting. Coggins was booked into the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center with his bond set at $250,000.
In May of 2023, a Lowndes County grand jury indicted Coggins on a charge of manslaughter in connection with Hoffpauir's death. The legal proceedings continued, and by September 2025, testimony had begun in the manslaughter trial of Justin Coggins. The prosecution presented its case, which included testimony from the first deputy on the scene and footage from an investigator's body camera. The community was left mourning the loss of Hoffpauir, who was remembered by friends as an 'amazing person' and a talented baseball player. He was the owner of an HVAC company, Stella Air, LLC.
