Police seek 'justice' for 7-year-old Dequante Hobbs, call on witnesses to step up

The lead detective investigating the fatal shooting of 7-year-old Dequante Hobbs Jr. made a plea Tuesday for those with information to speak up.

"If this was your child, I guarantee you would hope and pray that someone with an answer would come forward..." said Louisville Metro Police detective Stephen Snider. 

Investigators have interviewed several people, he said, and continue to follow up on crime tips. 

Snider noted the department is actively looking for some people who were at a dice game in the backyard of an adjacent home where the shooting broke out Sunday night, not necessarily because they're in trouble but because they might hold key info about who fired the fatal shot.

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Dequante, a first-grade student at Wellington Elementary School, was sitting inside his home Sunday evening in the 2100 block of West Madison Street when a stray bullet tore through his kitchen window, striking him in the head. 

The boy's death marks LMPD's 49th criminal homicide case of the year. The department investigated 118 homicides last year, breaking the department's previous 14-year-old record of 80 set in 2015.

Lt. Emily McKinley, who usually leads news conferences on homicides, deferred to Snider, who said he wanted to make a personal plea. 

He addressed reporters for a few minutes, taking no questions. He said the homicide unit "is stretched thin anyways right now" and repeatedly asked for the community's help. 

"This little child deserves justice," he said.

Reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at 502-582-4989 or mglowicki@courier-journal.com.