At 12 years old, Rapper Lil Wayne tried to commit suicide with a gun, but an ex-New Orleans police officer, Robert Hoobler, saved his life. Now, Lil Wayne is mourning his passing.
On Friday, July 22, the 65-year-old was found inside of his home in Old Jefferson.
“Everything happens for a reason. 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 and miss u both and live for us all,” the rapper shared on Instagram. He included a picture of Hoobler standing near Wayne’s old residence.
Daniel Nelson, Hoobler’s grandson, stated that his granddad suffered from many health issues after being involved in a car accident. Because of his diabetes, Hoobler’s legs had been amputated.
“How I knew I had mental health problems was I pulled the trigger,” Wayne has previously said, recounting what happened that evening.
In 1994, Wayne had called police prior to locating his mother’s gun and placing it to his head. He then shot himself in the chest.
The rapper says that as officers arrived to the bloody scene, they walked over his body as they looked for drugs and weapons. Hoobler, who wasn’t on-duty at the time, was the only officer that came to his side and quickly transported Lil Wayne to a medical facility.
“He just picked me up and just kept telling me sh*t like, ‘You not going to die on me. And so, he got me to the hospital…He made sure I was good.”
Wayne says that years after that, he was able to meet Hoobler. “He was like, ‘I don’t want nothing. I just want to say I’m happy to see that I saved a life that mattered.'”
