Police in Tennessee are searching for the person who shot and killed a prominent businessman as he was leaving a charity event.

News outlets report 57-year-old Glenn Cofield died in the parking lot of Greater Lewis Street Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis on Friday night as he and his wife got into their car to go home after a St. Jude Children’s Hospital fundraising event.

Police believe the shooter was attempting to rob Cofield. Eyewitnesses reported Cofield was shot after he exchanged words with the assailant. Cofield was pronounced dead at the scene, local media reported. Police received the 911 call about the shooting at 10:55 p.m.

Cofield was a local branch manager for a financial services company, and was a board member for the Memphis Country Club.

Family members say he grew up in Oxford, Mississippi, and graduated from the University of Mississippi before moving to Memphis. He worked in the financial services industry in Memphis.

He managed the Memphis office of investment firm Raymond James and served as a board member for Paragon Bank. He served on the boards of several Memphis non-profits, including St. Jude.

Cofield’s family have deep ties to north Mississippi. His grandfather, J.R. “Colonel” Cofield is known for photographs he took of author William Faulkner.

Glenn Cofield’s murder marks the second well known Memphis businessman to be murdered on the streets of Memphis in the last nine months.

In September 2018, the president and CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce Phillip H. Trenary was killed as he left a charity event in downtown Memphis. Two suspects are charged with Trenary’s murder.