On this much authorities can agree: Melvonta Jacox was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head one afternoon in late August on Minneapolis' North Side.
With that deduction out of the way, city homicide detectives looking into Jacox's mysterious death have turned their attention to other matters. Namely, determining whether the 25-year-old's death came by his own hand or if someone else fired the fatal bullet.
An autopsy, released on Thursday, failed to reveal the manner of death, leaving the case in a state of investigative limbo. For now the Aug. 30 shooting is going down as one of the city's 34 slayings so far this year, with two homicide detectives assigned to the case.
That could change if it's found that Jacox shot himself, accidentally or otherwise.
"It's a homicide case in our office that we're still investigating, but the ME hasn't determined a manner of death," police spokesman Scott Seroka said Thursday. He added that detectives were interviewing potential witnesses to the crime and reviewing other evidence, but declined to go into the specifics of the case, citing the ongoing investigation.
On the day of the shooting, Fourth Precinct officers were called about 3:25 p.m. to the 2600 block of Irving Avenue North, in the Jordan neighborhood. They learned that a young male had been shot in the front yard of house near the middle of the block, and later taken to nearby North Memorial Medical Center "by private vehicle," police said. At the time, the killing was deemed suspicious.
Jacox, of Coon Rapids, was pronounced dead there less than a half day later.
