Coast native killed by teen hours after boy’s high school graduation, MS sheriff says
A 33-year-old man who police say was killed by a teenager in a domestic dispute just hours after the boy’s graduation is a Hancock County native.
Dustin Hoffpauir was shot to death at a home in Caledonia on Saturday morning, Sheriff Eddie Smith told WCBI-TV in Columbus, Mississippi.
The suspect, 18-year-old Justin Robert Coggins, is accused of shooting Hoffpauir in a domestic dispute hours after the teen graduated from Caledonia High School, the sheriff told WCBI.
Hoffpauir was tagged in photos from the graduation on Facebook, where he is seen in photos with the suspect, who was wearing his cap and gown.
Hoffpauir attended Hancock High and St. Stanislaus in Bay St. Louis. Tributes are pouring in on social media from friends and former classmates who called him “Dusty.”
“I love you lil brother,” his brother, Ryan Ladner, posted.
Hoffpauir is remembered as a baseball athlete and artist.
“...literally was sitting yesterday talking about how hard of hitter and ball player you were man!” JC Brignone posted to Facebook.
WCBI reports Hoffpauir’s body was sent to the state lab for autopsy. Coggins was held in the Lowndes County jail.
This story was originally published May 23, 2022 at 9:04 AM.
