7-year-old boy is 5th family member killed in nearly a year
Dequante Hobbs died Sunday night after being struck by a stray bullet in the Russell neighborhood.
Dequante Hobbs died Sunday night after being struck by a stray bullet in the Russell neighborhood.
Dequante Hobbs died Sunday night after being struck by a stray bullet in the Russell neighborhood.
A 7-year-old boy who died after being shot by a stray bullet was the fifth young person in his family to be the victim of a homicide.
Dequante Hobbs died Sunday night after a bullet went through his kitchen window and struck him while he was eating a piece of cake.
Family members said he is the fifth person in their family to be killed in nearly a year.
Last May the boy's cousins, Larry Ordway and Maurice Gordon were stabbed and burned. In August, Troyvonte Hurt was killed in a drive-by shooting. Hurt's mother is the first cousin of Hobbs' mom. On Derby day of 2017, Dequante's cousin, Jaylin Hobbs was shot and killed in the Chickasaw neighborhood.
"Every day I come out of my house I'm worried. It doesn't matter where it is in this west end, I'm worried," a mother of two told WLKY.
The young mother asked not to be identified out of fear of what could happen. She has lived in West Louisville her entire life.
"This used to be a beautiful place, the west end. Now nobody wants to live here," she said.
Deaquante Hobbs was struck by a stray bullet Sunday night while he was inside his house in the 2100 block of West Madison Street.
The bullet came from the gun of someone outside of the home. Investigators said there was a fight outside of the home and someone started shooting.
"There's no understanding in that, period. There's no excuse for that. There's no reason for that," Georgia Corcoran said.
Dequante Hobbs was going to celebrate his promotion to second grade on Tuesday. Now, his family will honor his life with a balloon release.
The balloon release is scheduled for 6:30p.m. Tuesday in the 2100 block of West Madison Street.
Police do not have any suspects in this case.
Hobbs' death is the 44th criminal homicide investigation of the year for the Louisville Metro Police Department.