On March 23, 2024, at about 7:53 p.m., Killeen police responded to a reported shooting at a home in the 3500 block of Rusack Drive and found 26-year-old Deante Treshawn Hawkins with a gunshot wound to the chest. Officers and EMS provided life-saving measures, but Deante was pronounced dead at 8:38 p.m. His girlfriend, Genesis Jones, was upstairs during an argument and then went downstairs to find him wounded; she had recorded the interaction and reported hearing two shots.

Investigators say Deante had been in a heated argument with his father, 53-year-old Larry Lamont Hawkins, about money Deante owed. A firearm was recovered at the scene. Larry Hawkins told officers he acted in self-defense and that his son had attacked him, but officers observed no signs of a physical struggle. Larry Hawkins was arrested and charged with murder and booked into the Bell County Jail with bond set at $150,000. The Robbery-Homicide Unit is handling the investigation.

If anyone witnessed the March 23 disturbance on Rusack Drive or has information about the argument before the shooting, please come forward.