Rico Bondaro Hawkins was 26 when he was killed in a street shooting in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on February 4, 2022. Two other people were wounded in the same incident, which prompted a Pascagoula Police Department investigation.

Investigators identified a person of interest quickly; the next day they obtained an arrest warrant. Eric Taite was arrested and booked into the Jackson County Adult Detention Center and charged with one count of murder in Hawkins’s death and two counts of aggravated assault for the injured victims. The case was referred to the district attorney’s office for prosecution.

If anyone witnessed the shooting or has information about Hawkins, the other victims, or the events that night, please come forward.