Jermaine Hulbert

Jermaine Hulbert, a 42-year-old Black man known to loved ones as "4 Head" or "Manny," is remembered as a loving and kind-hearted father. On a gun violence memorial page, friends and family left messages of enduring love, with one writing, “I love and miss you so much… [your daughter] will know her daddy was a great man.” He was the son of Donna Hulbert and had a younger brother, Jahmal Burroughs, a college basketball player, and a sister, Latasia Burroughs. Jermaine was a father to at least three children and his death left a deep void in the hearts of those who knew him.

Late on the night of Friday, May 20, 2022, that life was cut short in a burst of gunfire. The shooting happened just before midnight, at 11:48 p.m., in the parking lot of a 24-hour Brothers gas station at 5104 St. Claude Avenue in New Orleans. The station is located in the city’s Holy Cross neighborhood, part of the Lower Ninth Ward. When New Orleans Police Department officers arrived at the chaotic scene, they found four people had been shot. Jermaine Hulbert was pronounced dead at the scene from his injuries.

The three other victims of the mass shooting included a 59-year-old man and a 50-year-old woman, who were both transported to a local hospital by emergency medical services. A third victim, a 29-year-old woman, arrived at a hospital by a private vehicle. Police did not release information on the nature of their injuries or their conditions. The Orleans Parish Coroner’s office officially identified Jermaine Hulbert on the following Monday. His death was one of several homicides during a particularly violent weekend in New Orleans, during which at least 15 people were shot and four were killed in nine separate incidents across the city. By that point in May 2022, the city had seen 117 homicides, a 56% increase from the same period in the previous year.

The New Orleans Police Department opened a homicide investigation into the shooting. In the initial aftermath, authorities asked for the public’s help, directing anyone with information to contact homicide detective Leonard Bendy or to leave an anonymous tip with Crimestoppers. However, since those first days, there have been no public announcements regarding any persons of interest, suspects, or arrests in the case. The motive for the shooting remains unknown, and no information has been released about what may have led to the deadly encounter.

In 2016, six years before his death, the NOPD had identified Jermaine Hulbert, then 36, as a suspect in a triple shooting that occurred just blocks away from where he would later be killed. Police alleged at the time that he was one of three men who opened fire at the corner of St. Claude Avenue and Lizardi Street, wounding three people. It was reported that he was wanted on charges of attempted first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a felon. Records indicate two other suspects in that case were arrested.

As of May 2022, the investigation into Jermaine Hulbert’s murder is ongoing but has yielded no public resolution. His case joins the many unsolved homicides in New Orleans, leaving his family without answers and his killers at large. Anyone with information about the shooting that killed Jermaine Hulbert is urged to call NOPD Homicide at (504) 658-5300 or Crimestoppers of Greater New Orleans at (504) 822-1111.