A high school student who was shot d*d outside a Mississippi gas station just hours after her graduation was k!ll!d two months after her boyfriend was also gunn-ed down. Kennedy Hobbs, 18, was shot three times at a Texaco gas station in Jackson just before 11pm on Tuesday as she was on her way to a graduation party.
Hours earlier, video livestreamed on Facebook showed the teenager – dressed in silver hi*h heels and a royal blue cap – smiling as she received her diploma at Murrah High School.
Her d!a** came just two months after her 21-year-old boyfriend Jaquan Williams was shot de-ad outside a conve!ience store in Jackson.
Police say the sh**ter fled the scene before officers arrived and they are still in the process of questioning witne-sses.
They have not released any information on whether Hobbs – who d*** at the scene – knew her k!lle! or what ci*cumsta-nces led to her de**.
It wasn’t immediately if police believe her de** is linked in any way to her boyfriend’s k!lli!g.
Her boyfriend was shot de-ad at about 1pm on April 8 outside a co!veni-ence store following an arg*ment in the parking lot with another man.
Williams was sh*t multiple times. The suspect in that sh**ti!g also fled the scene and it is unclear if they have been arrested.
One of Hobbs’ relatives said they were on the phone with the teenager right before she was shot and that she heard her arg-uing with someone before the g*nsh*ts rang out.
Her family have since slam-med the Jackson Police Department for not bringing in any outside law enf*rcement agencies to help with the in!esti*ation.
‘Why isn’t the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, F!rea-rms and Explosives) out here? Why isn’t (the Mississippi Bureau of In!estigation out here),’ her uncle, William Edwards, told the Mississippi Clarion Ledger.
‘We haven’t been told anything.’ Around two dozen people gathered at the Jackson Police Department headquarters on Wednesday to listen to the family ple-ad with officials to do more to solve her m***r and address the city’s growing c*me rate.
‘She’s not just my niece or just her dad’s child or her mother’s child: she’s all our children,’ Edwards said. ‘I’m all for the right to bear arms but at what cost?’
Her family say she had big plans after graduation and had already set up her own licensed business Kaay’s Waxing Bar. ‘She already had her waxing business and her lashes, hair…Kennedy was in fashion. That’s all Kennedy knew,’ her god sister Teiaudria Hawkins told WLBT.
‘Kennedy was loving; Kennedy was outstanding; everyone loved Kennedy. ‘I can’t even describe the feeling; we are torn to pieces. We all are. From her classmates to her family to her friends. This is unbelievable. We just want to know why. What happened?’
The d*a*h of Hobbs, who was the daughter of a fac-ulty member in the district, has cast a shadow over the end of the school year ceremonies planned for the week.
The city was celebrating graduations at its seven high schools after a year marked by challenges brought by the co*onavi!us pan-dem!c.
Multiple commencements were planned so the district could limit crowds and follow COVID-19 safety precautions.
Speaking to reporters between graduation ceremonies on Wednesday, Jackson Public Schools Superintendent Errick Greene said Hobbs was on everyone’s mind.
‘To get the news this morning of the passing of one of our dear graduates, it’s tough,’ he said. ‘It’s really tough. And it brings into view just how important this work is that we do.’
Whenever Greene speaks to graduates, he urges them to be mind-ful of their time on this Earth and not to put off pursuing their dreams, he said.
Speaking at Wednesday’s graduation ceremony, after the news of Hobbs’ d**th, ‘it really did hi* a little differently,’ he said.
‘It was a little more timely and meaningful as I challenged them to look to the left and look to the right to realize that they may not see their classmates again,’ he said.
Usually, when he tells students that, it’s because he knows they’ll all follow different paths after graduation.
‘The reality is, we just don’t know when our last day will be,’ he continued. ‘And so it’s just important for us to be more smart about how we set our lives up and the way that we sow positivity and peace in the world and the comm-unity around us.’
Mississippi’s capital saw a record number of homicides in 2020, with close to 130 k!lli*gs in the city of about 161,000. Most were gu*-related, according to law enfo*cement.
In 2021, the city is on tra*k to surpass that milestone. As of the end of April, 50 people had been ki!!ed in Jackson.
Greene said he’s often asked what the school district can do to reduce vi*lent c**e in the city. He said education is one of the most powerful tools the comm-unity has.