In the quiet evening of May 9, 2018, the life of 59-year-old Terry Hooker was violently cut short in Jackson, Mississippi. A Black male, Hooker was discovered shot to death inside his own vehicle, a grim end to what should have been an ordinary day. The incident occurred on Leonard Court, where Hooker had just returned home around 10:30 p.m. It's believed by investigators that the assailant may have been lying in wait for him to arrive.
A witness reported hearing several gunshots pierce the night, a sound that signaled the city's 38th homicide of the year.
Tragically, this was not the first time Terry Hooker had been a target of gun violence. Just a year prior, on July 17, 2017, he was critically wounded in a shooting that claimed the life of another man, 26-year-old De'Monte Cortez West. In that earlier incident, a suspect named Mikel Blane, then 40, was indicted for West's murder and faced an aggravated assault charge for the injuries inflicted upon Hooker.
Despite the previous attempt on his life and the ongoing investigation into his death, justice for Terry Hooker has remained elusive. Law enforcement officials with the Jackson Police Department have been pursuing a few leads in his murder case, but as of the latest available information, no arrests have been made, and no suspects have been publicly identified. The investigation into his death is ongoing, leaving a community and a grieving family still searching for answers and closure. Authorities have encouraged anyone with information to come forward and contact Crime Stoppers.
