Jalen Shepard was 19 when he was shot inside a car on Beecher Street in Walnut Hills on January 2, 2022. He was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The shooting was recorded as Cincinnati’s second homicide of the year.

On January 7, 2022, Cincinnati Police arrested 27-year-old Jermel Spencer in connection with Shepard’s murder. Spencer was charged with murder and held in the Hamilton County jail on $500,000 bond. The Homicide Unit continued working the investigation.

Shepard’s family and friends remember him as adventurous, energetic and humble, very family-oriented and protective of his siblings, with strong interests in technology, music and video gaming and aspirations to develop his own video games. If anyone has information about what happened on Beecher Street that night, please come forward to investigators.