Garrick Hopkins was 60 when he and his older brother, Carl Hopkins Jr., were shot and killed on January 25, 2014, during a visit to a recently purchased lot near Barboursville where Garrick planned to build a home. The brothers were near an outbuilding on Garrick’s property at about 2:30 p.m. when neighbor Rodney Bruce Black, from his nearby home, fired a .243-caliber rifle through a bedroom window at approximately 120 feet. Both men were fatally wounded; investigators determined the shed Black believed was his was actually on Hopkins’ land and contained none of Black’s belongings. Black remained inside his residence, called 911 after the shootings and was arrested at the scene; he was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder.

Mental-competency questions dominated the case afterward: evaluations found histories of delusional disorder, paranoid schizophrenia and possible dementia, and the court ruled Black incompetent to stand trial with doctors concluding his condition was essentially not restorable. No conventional trial or verdict had occurred as a result. If anyone knew Garrick, his plans for the property, or has information about that afternoon, please share what is known.