The mother of a Halifax tattoo artist killed in a 2012 shooting is speaking out about the investigation surrounding her son’s murder.
No arrests have been made in the homicide of 27-year-old John Newcombe, but his mother believes there’s someone out there who can help solve the case once and for all.
“That’s what John needs. That’s what his family needs … the justice,” said Laura Lee Jennex, who desperately combs through newspaper articles and Facebook group posts to try and uncover the truth.
Newcombe was a rising hip-hop artist and owner of a tattoo shop when he was gunned down outside Winston’s Pub in Clayton Park during the early morning hours of June 1, 2012.
According to Halifax Regional Police at the time, responding officers found Newcombe on the sidewalk outside the bar. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation found that Newcombe had just left the bar when he was shot in the parking lot. The shooter reportedly fled through a walkway towards Willet Street where he was picked up by a vehicle.
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Police said they believed Newcombe was the intended target and that it wasn’t a random incident.
Jennex says she believes her son knew he was in danger.
She said she recently spoke with a man who told her he was there the night of her son’s killing.
“He said that he was in the bar. John had went out for a cigarette. John came back in and said, ‘That guy’s here,’” she said.
“This person didn’t know who John was referring to, but they went out and there was some people in a car. One of them got out and was giving John a hard time. And at the end of it, the fella said, ‘Never mind, I’ll be back for you later.’ And they left.”
Jennex says her son was killed an hour later after that interaction.
She says she has received few updates from detectives over the years since Newcombe’s death.
“It was maddening because there was very little correspondence with Halifax police or the detectives. They had never returned my phone calls. They had not reached out to me,” she said.
Halifax police have said they believe there are people who have information that could solve his murder. Jennex says there’s no better time than now for someone to speak up.
“All I want is to be able to put John to rest. I still have his ashes. I haven’t been able to do anything with them because I feel like I’d be giving up on him if I did that, where there’s no justice,” she said.
She remembers her son as an artistic man, who loved his career as a tattoo artist and wrote his own hip-hop songs and had released some 20 music videos.
“I wasn’t really familiar with the hip-hop scene. But being a singer and songwriter myself, I recognized that John was getting his thoughts and feelings down on paper and through his music,” she said.
“So as he says in some of his songs, it was a form of therapy to be able to do that. And I was just so, so proud of him when I looked at him as an artist.”
Her message to anyone with information about her son’s death is simple: come forward.
“It’s been 13 years. I realize back then you would have been in your 20s, probably. Now you’d probably you’re in your 40s and have a family of your own, perhaps,” she said.
“But I feel like now is the time to come forward. I think the circumstances for people are now safer to speak. So I’m encouraging anyone to please help put this to bed.”
Newcombe’s case was added to the province’s Rewards for Major Unsolved Crimes program in 2017. There is a reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
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