On the night of Friday, December 13, 2019, 35-year-old Javon Hatcher was shot on Ocotillo Road near Glendale Avenue and the I-17 in Phoenix. Officers found Hatcher with a gunshot wound; Phoenix Fire Department medics took him to a nearby hospital, where he later died.

Initial investigation showed Hatcher had been involved in an altercation with another man immediately before the shooting. The other man fled the scene, and investigators began searching for the person responsible.

Detectives later identified 44-year-old Rodney Vinson as the primary suspect. Vinson was found in another jurisdiction being held on unrelated charges and was booked on second-degree murder in connection with Hatcher’s death; detectives also said they linked him to an unsolved 2001 sexual assault.

If anyone witnessed the altercation on Ocotillo Road that night or knows more about the events leading up to Hatcher’s death, please come forward with information.