Labor Day homicide victim was shot point-blank

The woman who was killed in a Labor Day double homicide was shot in the head at point-blank range, according to a preliminary report from the Hamilton County medical examiner’s office.

Jasmine Hines, 22, also was shot three times in the torso and once in the hand, according to the report. The shot to her head was fired from a range of about six to 30 inches. The medical examiner could not determine the range of the other wounds, according to the report.

Rashaud Taylor, 23, also was killed that night. He was shot in the head, shoulder and back, according to a preliminary report. It was unclear at what distance those shots were fired.

The two were slain in the early morning of Sept. 5 inside a home on Pinewood Drive. A third person was wounded in the shooting but survived. Records show that the woman called 911 for help after she was shot.

The Times Free Press is not identifying the surviving woman because of police concerns about her safety.

Police have charged Stephen Mobley, 32, with two counts of first-degree murder in the case. The survivor and another witness told police that a group of people had been partying all night at the home on Pinewood Drive when Mobley became upset, argued with Hines, and then opened fire.

The female survivor said the man was angry because she and Hines had vomited inside the home. She is now under police protection after receiving death threats.

Mobley was briefly the subject of a statewide manhunt — authorities added him to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Top Ten Most Wanted fugitives list on Sept. 6 — but he turned himself in on Sept. 7.

Before he surrendered at the Police Services Center on Amnicola Highway, Mobley posted a four-and-a-half minute video on his Facebook page in which he claimed he was innocent.

He said police and witnesses were using his past as an excuse to pin the killings on him. Mobley pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in a 2005 shooting death and was charged with first-degree murder in a 2012 homicide. However, a jury could not reach a decision in the 2012 case, and the charges against Mobley were dismissed.

He is scheduled to appear on the new charges Oct. 6 in Hamilton County General Sessions Court.