Rodrick Bolton was roused from his sleep Tuesday by several frantic calls and Instagram messages.
He didn’t find it strange that several of his friends were calling and texting him at 6 a.m. But he knew something was wrong because none of the calls were from his best friend, Laderrick “Huncho” Jackson.
Credit: Instagram / Rodrick Bolton
Credit: Instagram / Rodrick Bolton
When Bolton finally answered a video call, it was someone telling him to get to the Monaco Hookah Lounge, a popular night spot in downtown Atlanta.
Huncho had been shot. The caller flipped the video screen and Bolton said he could see his best friend’s body lying in front of a tobacco shop next to the lounge.
It was the last memory he has of his comrade.
“I have four brothers. He might as well be the fifth,” Bolton said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He was with me every second of the day. That’s why I’m mad I didn’t come to the club that night.
“Y’all didn’t even have to kill my man like that,” he added.
Jackson, 24, was a popular promoter known by his nickname Huncho. He pushed nightlife spots, restaurants and pop-up shops throughout Atlanta. Bolton said they went to the club together at least three times a week so Huncho could work his magic. “He was the life of the party,” Bolton said.
The two were together so often that many on Atlanta’s club scene began calling them twins.
“They knew if I’m there, he’s there. You never saw him and you didn’t see me right there,” Bolton said. “It’s like we was hand and hand, and now I ain’t got nobody I can call.”
But beyond the lavish lifestyle of bottle popping and club hopping, Huncho was a father to a young daughter. Bolton said his friend had dreams of one day owning his own restaurant or lounge.
“I just want his mama, his little girl and his sister to actually be able to be at peace. Whatever’s going to make them at peace with losing him is what I want,” he said.
It was part of Bolton’s and Huncho’s Monday night routine to go out with a crew of other promoters and young entrepreneurs. They usually started the night at the VODS Atlanta Lounge and Bistro in the Old Fourth Ward. When VODS closed at 3 a.m., they moved the party to the after-hour spots along the 250 block of Trinity Avenue that Huncho promoted.
The strip includes Monaco and Chic Restaurant and Lounge next door.
Police said Huncho was shot just after 6 a.m. when he got into an argument with another man at Monaco that spilled outside and escalated to gunfire. Jackson was shot once and died on the scene.
Lt. Ralph Woolfolk, commander of Atlanta police’s homicide unit, said at the time that investigators had a person of interest they wanted to question about the shooting. No arrests have been made.
Hours earlier, Bolton said he and Huncho went shopping to buy Bolton’s son a birthday gift. From there, Bolton spent the rest of the day celebrating with his son.
He said by the time Huncho called him later that evening to go clubbing, he’d fallen asleep. Now he’ll always wonder if he could have staved off tragedy if he’d answered the call.
“He always watched my back,” Bolton said. “You’re supposed to have that one person that you know got you, no matter what. ... The fact that I didn’t answer the phone and I didn’t go, it’s just killing me because I know I was supposed to be there. It wouldn’t have been the same because he wouldn’t have been by himself.”
Family members have started a GoFundMe memorial for Huncho, where he’s mourned as a “generous and loving Black man.”
About the Author
