Grace McAlister
Reporter1@riverbendnews.org
On Sunday, Jan. 1, at 9:51 p.m., the Jasper Police Department (JPD) responded to a call at a residence on Martin Luther King Drive. The JPD reports states the caller was requesting assistance regarding a black male outside the house with what they believed was a head injury. The owner of the residence said as she was leaving for Sunday school she saw the man lying against her screen door. She went back inside to have her brother call 911.
The report states when Sgt. Leyon Kirklin arrived on scene, he discovered the man was not suffering from a head injury; he was deceased, with two gunshot wounds in his torso. Sgt. Kirklin was able to identify the deceased man as Jasper resident Kendrick Robinson. He contacted Police Chief Tony Rickerson to inform him there was a suspected murder and requested assistance.
The homeowner told Sgt. Kirklin her home had a security camera. When reviewing the footage, they saw that at approximately 2:44 a.m., gunshots were heard coming from Southwest 10th Ave. and Martin Luther King Drive. The reports states the victim is seen running into camera view screaming, "Debo d**n done shot me,” as he ran into the porch. He was heard from the camera system beating frantically on the door, screaming for help, saying, “I can't breathe he done shot me.” This carried on until 3:11 a.m., when the victim could no longer be heard breathing or banging on the door.
The report states the JPD was put in contact with a witness to the shooting who told police that Robinson left her at a residence at 2:30 a.m. to go get "smoke" from Diovion "Debo" Ash and a male family member.
The witness stated she had sent the male family member $30 for the “smoke” through a Cash App transaction, but had sent it to the wrong account. She stated she realized what she did and corrected it by sending the male family member the money to the correct Cash App account. At around 2:48 a.m., the witness attempted to call Robinson after she heard the gunshots and he had yet to return.
The female witness stated a male witness then called her at 3:30 a.m. and apologized for the altercation between Ash and Robinson. He said he tried to stop it from happening, but Robinson shined a flashlight in Ash’s face, which caused an argument. The male witness told her he no longer wanted to be part of it, taking the opportunity to walk away. He made it a few blocks away before hearing gunfire coming from the direction of Ash and Robinson. The witnesses also said they would cooperate with investigators to pick out the suspect from a photo lineup.
On Tuesday, Jan. 3, investigators re-interviewed a witness who completed a photo lineup, picking out one of the people who was fighting with Robinson just prior to the gunshots, according to the report. Officers then interviewed another witness, who identified Ash as the individual who shot the victim in a photo lineup, stating he shot the victim at least twice. The witness further pointed out the area of the shooting on a map, which coincided with the location where spent shell casings were found. The witness stated the argument began when the Cash App payment was not received.
Ash was transported to the Hamilton County Jail, where he is being charged with homicide and two counts of possession of illegal narcotics with intent to sell.