Reward increased to $5,000 for information in fatal Rhodes College shooting
Crime scene tape hangs blocks off a murder scene in South Memphis as blue lights flash in the background Dec. 31, 2021. The family of Drew Rainer, a Rhodes College student shot and killed in a home invasion robbery last year, has added money to the reward in case. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian file)
The family of Andrew “Drew” Rainer, the Rhodes College student shot and killed in a home invasion robbery last year, has added money to the reward for information leading to the arrest of other suspects in the case.
Rainer’s family recently added $3,000 to the $2,000 offered by CrimeStoppers of Memphis for a total of $5,000.
One man has been arrested so far. Rainess Holmes, 36, was arrested Oct. 5, 2021 ,in the fatal shooing of Rainer.
Rainer, along with four other people, were inside an off-campus apartment in the 700 block of North McLean Sunday, Oct. 3, when police said three or four men wearing hoodies broke into the home.
Rainer was told to enter the passcode on his iPad and when he was unable, police said he was shot in the chest. According to an arrest affidavit, Rainer struggled with Holmes over the gun. A 20-year-old woman also in the home was shot in the hand when the gun was fired a second time.
Police said Holmes and the other suspects stole electronics including video gaming systems, phones and other items from the five victims.
One of the victims in the incident was able to track his iPad to a motel off Summer Avenue. Police found Holmes and a woman at the motel along with a stolen Jeep Wrangler that had been seen at the victim’s apartment.
Police said Holmes ran from police at the motel but investigators found Rainer’s wallet and a cellphone belonging to one of the other victims in a ditch. Holmes was later arrested by the U.S. Marshals Two Rivers Violent Fugitive Task Force at a home on Powell Avenue, about three miles from the apartment where Rainer was shot and killed.
Holmes remains in the Shelby County Jail, where he is being held without bail on charges including first-degree murder, especially aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery.
Anyone with any information in the case can call CrimeStoppers at 901-528-2274.
Police are also investigating a robbery Monday involving two Rhodes students outside their North Parkway apartment complex near the campus.
Topics
Andrew "Drew" Rainer Rhodes College HomicidesYolanda Jones
Yolanda Jones covers criminal justice issues and general assignment news for The Daily Memphian. She previously was a reporter at The Commercial Appeal.
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