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NEW ORLEANS — Robert Hoobler, a retired New Orleans police officer who helped save rapper Lil Wayne’s life when the musician shot himself at age 12, died Friday. He was 65.
Hoobler was found dead at his home in Jefferson Parish on Friday, parish coroner Gerry Cvitanovich told WVUE-TV. The cause of death has not been disclosed.
For several years, Hoobler suffered from lingering health issues after a car wreck led doctors to amputate both of his legs, NOLA.com reported.
David Lapene, a friend and former co-worker of Hoobler’s, said Lil Wayne’s account of Hoobler and officer Kevin Balancier saving his life 27 years ago is “one of the best stories that depicts Hoobler as a person.”
The rapper, who was born Dwayne Carter Jr., was handling a 9 mm pistol in his mother’s apartment in the New Orleans neighborhood of Hollygrove on Nov. 11, 1994, when he shot himself in the chest, NOLA.com reported.
Hoobler was off duty at the time but heard the police radio report and drove to the scene, along with five other officers, according to the news outlet.
Hoobler kicked in the door and found Carter in a bloodied T-shirt and jeans, WVUE reported.
No ambulance was available, so the ranking officer told Hoobler to rush the boy to a hospital, according to NOLA.com.
Lil Wayne has recounted the story in interviews, saying in one that the Black rapper said he never knew racism because of Hoobler, a white man whom he called “Uncle Bob.”
“He was always people forward,” Lapene told NOLA.com about his former colleague. “He took care of the public just as much as he took care of the cops.”
After retiring from the police department, Hoobler began at the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office in 2009, according to the website. He was fired and charged with malfeasance in office in 2012 after shooting a man whom he was arresting with a stun gun.
After taking a plea deal and being placed on probation, Hoobler received a pardon because he was a first offender, NOLA.com reported.
Hoobler later lost both legs after a severe vehicle accident, WVUE reported. Balancier retired in 2021 after serving 33 years on the force, according to NOLA.com.
When nationwide sentiment toward police became negative after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis officers in 2020, Lil Wayne said Hoobler’s role in his life made it impossible for him to view all police in that light.
“My life was saved by a white cop,” Lil Wayne said on an episode of his radio show, according to WVUE. “So … you have to understand the way I view police.”
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