Jonathan Cardero Patterson was a 34-year-old Black man from Moss Point, Mississippi, whose life revolved around family, hometown ties, and the young relatives who looked up to him. Born on November 22, 1987, at Singing River Hospital in nearby Pascagoula, he grew up in the Pascagoula and Moss Point school systems and stayed rooted on the Gulf Coast into adulthood. His obituary describes someone deeply woven into his family’s daily life: the uncle who spent his free time on and off the basketball court with his nephews, Kameron Patterson and Bryant McCorvey, pushing them to build their skills and confidence; the relative who was “always ready” when the kids put a basketball or baseball in his hands and who filled gatherings with a loud, unforgettable laugh. Outside of those games, Patterson was known for dancing and joking with nieces and nephews on social media, and for a personality that friends and co-workers remembered as bright and encouraging during his shifts as a hotel porter at the Hard Rock Casino. His funeral was held at St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Moss Point on May 28, 2022, with burial at Machpelah Cemetery in Pascagoula, a final journey that kept him close to the community where he had spent his life.
In the early hours of May 19, 2022, the quiet of Johnson Street in Moss Point was broken by gunfire. Just after 1:00 a.m., police officers were dispatched to reports of shots fired in the 3800 block, a residential stretch where people were still awake enough to hear the sharp echo of bullets and the roar of a vehicle passing through the darkness. When officers arrived, they found Patterson gravely wounded from a gunshot. He was taken across the state line to USA Hospital in Mobile, Alabama, where he died later that morning. Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers later summarized the case as a drive-by shooting in the 3800 block of Johnson Street, emphasizing that the fatal wound was inflicted in those early morning hours before the sun came up over Moss Point.
Investigators quickly treated the killing as a homicide. A public notice from the Moss Point Police Department described how witnesses in the neighborhood reported hearing a loud vehicle just before the gunfire, leading detectives to believe that one or more suspects were inside a passing car when the shots were fired and then fled the area. Despite those leads, the case did not resolve quickly. Crime Stoppers formally listed it as a cold case later in 2022, noting Patterson’s full name and documenting that the Moss Point Police Department was still actively investigating his death. Gun violence databases and memorial pages likewise record him simply as a victim of gunfire in Moss Point on that date, without any corresponding entry for a charged perpetrator. As of the most recent public updates from Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers and local law enforcement, there is no record of any suspect being publicly identified by name, arrested, or brought to trial specifically for Patterson’s killing, and the shooting remains officially unsolved.
In the absence of an arrest or a clear narrative about who pulled the trigger, the story that emerges most clearly is the one told by Patterson’s family and community. His obituary speaks of a “fun, loving and outgoing” person who “went above and beyond” for relatives and friends, often stepping into a father-figure role for children who crossed his path. On an online gun violence memorial, dozens of virtual candles have been lit in his name, with commenters writing brief, emotional notes that echo the same themes of warmth, humor, and loyalty found in the funeral home’s tribute. Together, those remembrances sketch a picture of a family-centered man whose life was abruptly cut short on a neighborhood street, leaving his loved ones to mourn at a church less than ten days later while detectives continue, years on, to search for whoever was in that vehicle when the shots rang out.
