A confrontation outside Friend’s Hookah Café on Bardstown Road in Louisville’s Highlands neighborhood ended in a fatal shooting in the early morning hours of August 1, 2021. Derrick Robinson II, 29, was an employee at the café. An altercation that began inside moved outside around 4 a.m., where surveillance footage captured a man later identified as Larry Hinkle retrieving a firearm from his vehicle and firing multiple shots at Robinson. Robinson returned fire and struck Hinkle’s truck as the shooter fled. Robinson was taken to the University Hospital, where he died of his injuries.

Investigation tied Hinkle, a Goshen, Kentucky resident, to the scene; surveillance video and the truck damage were cited as evidence, and Hinkle attempted repairs to conceal involvement. Hinkle was arrested and charged; his initial murder charge was amended and he pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and tampering with physical evidence. In June 2022 Hinkle received a 15-year prison sentence — ten years for manslaughter and five years for tampering, with no probation eligibility.

Did anyone in the Highlands that night see the confrontation outside the café or recognize who else was present?