Robert Hoobler, the former New Orleans police officer who helped save Lil Wayne’s life in 1994, has died at 65 years old. According to local Fox affiliate WVUE, Hoobler was found dead at his home in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana on Friday, July 22nd.
No cause of death was revealed, but his grandson Daniel Nelson told NOLA.com that Hoobler had been dealing with health issues after a car accident and that both of his legs had been amputated due to complications from diabetes.
At the age of 12, Lil Wayne (born Dwayne Michael Carter Jr.) shot himself in the chest with a 9mm pistol in what he later revealed to be a suicide attempt on November 11th, 1994. Somehow, he was still able to muster the strength to call 911 and crawl toward the front door. Hoobler, who was off-duty at the time, heard the police radio report and drove to the scene at Wayne’s mother’s Hollygrove apartment.
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In a 2009 interview, Hoobler said he kicked down the door after hearing Wayne’s faint cries for help and radioed emergency medical services. Since no ambulances were available, however, the ranking officer on the scene ordered Hoobler to take the future rapper to the hospital. Hoobler then carried Wayne to the backseat of fellow officer Kevin Balancier’s police cruiser, laying the future rapper across his lap and keeping him awake.
Wayne paid tribute to Hoobler, who he fondly called Uncle Bob, on Instagram. “Everything happens for a reason,” he wrote. “I was dying when I met u at this very spot. U refused to let me die. Everything that doesn’t happen, doesn’t happen for a reason. That reason being you and faith. RIP uncle Bob. Aunt Kathie been waiting for u. I’ll love & miss u both and live for us all.”
Last August, Hoobler told TMZ that Wayne had offered financial support when they ran into each other in New Orleans two years prior.
Hoobler began working for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office in 2009 after retiring from the Police Department. In 2012, Hoobler was fired after an incident in which he used his taser gun at least three times during an arrest. He took a plea deal and served probation, but later received a pardon.
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