Lil Wayne Mourns Ex-Cop Who Saved His Life When He Was 12, ‘U Refused To Let Me Die’

New Orleans, LA – The retired New Orleans police officer whom rapper Lil Wayne called “Uncle Bob” after the cop saved his life when he shot himself when he was 12 was found dead on Friday in his Old Jefferson home.

“Everything happens for a reason,” Lil Wayne posted to his Instagram. “I was dying when I met u at this very spot. U refused to let me die.”

“Everything that doesn’t happen, doesn’t happen for a reason,” the rapper continued. “That reason being you and faith.”

“RIP uncle Bob. Aunt Kathie been waiting for u. I’ll love & miss u both and live for us all,” he added.

During an interview with Emmanuel Acho on “Uncomfortable Conversations” that was released in August of 2021, Lil Wayne – whose legal name is Dwayne Carter Jr. – went public with his mental health struggles that he said started when he was 10 years old.

The five-time Grammy winner, now approaching age 40, explained how he had tried to kill himself when he was 12 because he didn’t think his mother was going to let him become a rapper.

He now admits he intentionally shot himself in the chest and told Acho that then-Officer Hoobler was the reason he was still alive today.

“When you have no one to vent to, no one to get this out to, you can’t bring it to your friends at school because you’re still trying to be cool to them,” Lil Wayne explained. “You’re not tryna let them know, ‘I got something going on at home.’”

He said he wanted to shoot himself in the head but decided to aim for his heart instead.

But he called 911 before he pulled the trigger, he told Acho.

When police arrived, Officer Hoobler kicked down the door when he realized the wounded boy couldn’t open it, The Times-Picayune reported.

Lil Wayne told Acho that several officers raced past him into the house and got all excited about finding guns and drugs.

“They saw me… they just jumped clean over me and went through the house talking about ‘I found the drugs, I found the gun,” he told Acho. “And so it took a guy named Uncle Bob.”

He said Officer Hoobler didn’t step over him.

Lil Wayne said somebody told Officer Hoobler “I got the drugs,” and the older officer went crazy on him.

“And he was like ‘I don’t give a f—k about no drugs,’” the rapper recalled. “Do you not see the baby on the ground?”

He said he remembered trying to tell the officer that he wasn’t a baby.

Lil Wayne said Officer Hoobler yelled at the officers to help the wounded child, and they picked him up and carried him to a police vehicle.

He said Officer Hoobler got in the back of the police car with him and held him across his lap “like a little baby” while another officer at the wheel raced toward Ochsner Medical Center in Jefferson Parish, The Times-Picayune reported.

When they arrived, Officer Hoobler put the bleeding 12 year old on a gurney and doctors whisked him away to save his life.

A nurse told the officers that “If y’all had waited for [an ambulance]… he would have died. You saved that kid’s life,” The Times-Picayune reported.

Lil Wayne told Acho that when he ran into Officer Hoobler years later, his rescuer said “I’m happy to see that I saved a life that mattered.”

The rapper sang about Officer Hoobler saving him on his track “London Roads” in 2015 and implied the officer had since died, TMZ reported.

But then-former Officer Hoobler was still alive and reached out to Lil Wayne to let him know that.

The former officer said the rapper was actually trying to pay for his funeral, but fortunately, that wasn’t necessary, TMZ reported.

He said Lil Wayne has let “Uncle Bob” know that he has his back for life, if needed.

Retired Officer Hoobler was found dead in his home in Old Jefferson on July 22, Nola.com reported.

The retired law enforcement officer had suffered from lingering medical issues after a car crash and struggled with diabetes.

He was a double amputee, Nola.com reported.