Rodney Bates Jr. was 19 when he was shot on September 11, 2019, in the James Cayce public housing development on South 7th Street in Nashville. Officers responding to reports of shots fired found Bates with multiple gunshot wounds; he was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center and later died of his injuries. Reports say neither Bates nor the person suspected of shooting him were residents of the housing complex.

The investigation identified 40-year-old Theymous Hicks as the suspect; police said Bates and Hicks had argued earlier the same day. An arrest warrant for criminal homicide was issued for Hicks, who was described as a convicted felon on probation at the time. Hicks was located by the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force hiding in a closet at a 14th Avenue North residence, where a handgun was recovered, and he was taken into custody and charged in the case.

Hicks later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 35 years on April 20, 2023. Does anyone have information about Bates’s movements that day or witnessed the argument earlier on September 11, 2019?