In the early morning hours of October 1, 2022, a gunshot in the Hickory Haven Trailer Park in Opelika, Alabama, left 24-year-old Ker’detrius Mercer of Salem, Alabama, dead. Responding officers found Mercer lying in the roadway at about 3:00 a.m.; he was pronounced deceased at the scene and the shooter had fled prior to law enforcement arrival.

Opelika Police detectives quickly developed leads and, within days, executed a search warrant at a residence in the same trailer park. On the morning of October 3, 2022, police arrested 22-year-old Reginald Lamar Hooks and charged him with Mercer’s murder. The investigation remains ongoing.

If anyone has information about Ker’detrius Mercer, his movements that night, or what they saw in the Hickory Haven Trailer Park around 3:00 a.m. on October 1, contact the Opelika Police Department.