In Tennessee, Jackson Hopper admitted killing Ellie Claire Young at Shelby Farms Park in 2024.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The family of Ellie Claire Young can move forward with a wrongful death lawsuit after Jackson Hopper pleaded guilty to killing her and received a 40-year prison sentence in Shelby County.
The criminal case ended April 15 when Hopper, 27, admitted second-degree murder in Young’s death. He had been charged with first-degree murder and was scheduled for trial in July. The plea agreement, accepted with the family’s cooperation, sent Hopper to state prison and removed the need for a trial. The family’s lawsuit, which seeks $10 million and punitive damages, had been on hold while the murder case proceeded.
Young’s death traces back to a Saturday charity walk at Shelby Farms Park. On Oct. 19, 2024, she went to the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event at the park’s Visitor Center. She was 22 and studying medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Authorities said she had recently ended her relationship with Hopper. Just after noon, she entered the park in her Jeep Wrangler. A license plate reader showed Hopper’s white Honda CR-V following seconds later.
The civil case places the killing in a wider frame than the criminal plea. Young’s family sued Hopper and his mother, alleging responsibility for a death they say followed a history of domestic violence. The exact claims will be tested in civil court, where the standard is different from a criminal prosecution. The murder plea established Hopper’s criminal responsibility for the shooting, but it did not decide the civil lawsuit’s allegations or the amount of damages, if any, a jury might award.
In the criminal record, the shooting itself is described through surveillance video, witnesses and recovered ammunition. Witnesses told deputies that Hopper pulled in behind Young’s Jeep after she returned to the parking lot. Investigators said he fired two shots into the back of the vehicle. When Young exited, he fired again. Prosecutors later said video showed him firing five times, turning away and then coming back to fire a sixth shot. Young was found on the ground near the Jeep with multiple gunshot wounds and died at the scene.
Family attorney Mark S. McDaniel Jr. said the plea spared Young’s relatives from the trauma of a trial. He said testimony and crime scene evidence would have forced them to relive details that no family should have to see. McDaniel also described Young as an extraordinary soul who made a large mark in 22 years. In court, Judge Carlyn Addison told the family she accepted the agreement so they could begin to heal and leave the courthouse without returning for a murder trial.
The plea does not erase the public nature of the killing. Shelby Farms Park is a major gathering place in the Memphis area, and the breast cancer walk was still taking place when deputies responded. The setting made the crime especially jarring for people who had come to support cancer patients, survivors and families. Young was not killed in an isolated place. She was shot in a parking lot tied to a public event, near a vehicle that cameras and witnesses helped investigators place in the timeline.
Hopper’s flight added more agencies and more possible victims to the case. After the shooting, authorities said he left Shelby County and was later located in Mason, Tennessee. A pursuit followed through several counties. Officers said he drove dangerously, crossed into oncoming lanes and tried to hit law enforcement officers. Charges linked to the chase include aggravated assault, evading arrest, reckless endangerment, reckless driving, speeding and assault on a first responder. Those cases remain pending outside Shelby County.
The arrest raised its own questions. Video from after the chase showed a chaotic scene around Hopper’s overturned vehicle. Officers could be heard telling him to show his hands. Some footage also led to scrutiny of the force used during the arrest. Officials said the pursuit involved a fleeing armed suspect accused of murder, while law enforcement agencies began internal reviews of officer conduct. Local reports later said several officers were charged with official misconduct. Those matters are separate from Young’s family’s claims and Hopper’s murder sentence.
The civil lawsuit now becomes the main legal path for Young’s relatives to pursue damages. Criminal court punished Hopper for the killing. Civil court can examine broader claims about responsibility, notice, loss and punitive damages. The lawsuit’s demand for $10 million signals the scale of the family’s claim, but the final amount, if any, would depend on future rulings, evidence and a jury’s decision. No trial date in the civil matter has been reported as final.
Hopper’s defense attorney, Leslie Ballin, called the case tragic after sentencing and said that even after 49 years in practice, such cases remain difficult. Prosecutors said the sentence lets the family put the criminal matter behind them. Young’s family asked for privacy after the hearing. Their next legal steps are no longer centered on whether Hopper killed Young, because he admitted the crime, but on what the civil court may find about the circumstances surrounding her death.
The 40-year sentence closes the Shelby County murder prosecution. The wrongful death lawsuit and the chase-related charges in other counties remain the next court actions tied to the killing at Shelby Farms Park.
Author note: Last updated May 8, 2026.