Mississippi Teen Fatally Shot Hours After Her High School Graduation

The police in Jackson, Mississippi, are on the lookout for a suspect who allegedly shot an 18-year-old girl at a gas station, a few hours after her high school graduation.

Kennedy Hobbs, who had graduated from Murrah High School on Tuesday, was heading to a graduation party. On the way, she had stopped at a Texaco gas station on Medgar Evers Boulevard in Jackson, authorities said. A family member was on the phone with Hobbs right before she was shot, CBS-affiliated WJTV reported.

The person said she heard Hobbs arguing with someone, followed by gunshots. The shooter reportedly fled the scene before cops arrived. Hobbs died around 11 p.m. (12 a.m. ET).

"To get the news this morning of the passing of one of our dear graduates, it’s tough," Jackson Public Schools Superintendent Errick Greene said Wednesday. "It’s really tough. And it brings into view just how important this work is that we do."

Greene added education is the key to reducing violence in the city.

"A loss of a younger person, especially just after she's graduated, it's really tough. My heart goes out to her immediate family, to her mom, to her family, to her friends, her fellow graduates," said Greene, local media outlet WAPT reported.

The police did not release any possible motives.

"I've never felt this way and I'm trying to understand it, but at this point, it's hard to process," Hobbs' uncle, William Edwards, said, adding the teen's death has left the family in despair.

In April, Hobbs’ boyfriend, 21-year-old Jaquan Williams, was killed at a convenience store on Rose Street at Robinson Street, Jackson, following a dispute with another man. It was not clear if the two shootings were connected.

"I was just standing outside and I heard the gunshots 6 or 7 gunshots that went off all of a sudden, and then a car just pulled up in front of the liquor store and just opened fire," Rose Brown, a witness at the scene, told WAPT.

Mississippi’s capital saw a record number of homicides, with close to 130 dead, in the year 2020, Associated Press reported. The city may soon surpass last year’s numbers, as 50 people have reportedly been killed by the end of April 2021.