On the evening of July 3, 2020, Jeremiah Roosevelt Parker, a 19-year-old male from South Bend, Indiana, was fatally shot. Known to his loved ones as 'JaJa,' he was a 2019 graduate of Riley High School and was working at Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen at the time of his death. Friends and family remember him as a quiet young man with a warm smile.
The incident occurred on South Marine Street in South Bend, where Jeremiah was in a car with two other individuals.
According to court documents, as they were driving and smoking marijuana, a man identified as 19-year-old Daveyaun Groves approached the vehicle and shot Jeremiah in the chest. The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear.
In the wake of the shooting, the St. Joseph County prosecutor's office filed murder charges against Daveyaun Groves. After a period of being on the run, Groves was apprehended by U.S. Marshals. His trial took place from November 1-3, 2021, where a jury found him guilty of murder with a firearm sentencing enhancement.
Daveyaun Groves was sentenced to a total of 75 years in prison for the murder of Jeremiah Parker. The sentence consisted of 55 years for the murder charge and an additional 20 years for the use of a firearm in the commission of the crime.
