2022 Birmingham homicides

This is a List of Birmingham homicides in 2022. It includes homicide cases occurring within the city limits during the calendar year. Note that a "homicide" refers to the cause of death as determined by a medical examiner, not to the commission of the crime of murder as charged by police and prosecutors.

19 homicides have been reported in the city as of February 22, putting the city on pace for 128 for the year. Based on the 2020 census count of 200,733 population, that represents a homicide rate of 63.8 homicides per 100,000 residents. Birmingham had 141 homicides in 2021. The recent record low of 62 homicides was set in 2014, and the recent record high was 148 in 1992. At this point last year, 14 homicides had been reported.

The city has averaged 10.4 homicides per month, or one every 2.8 days. There were 10 incidents in January and 8 so far in February. The longest stretch without a homicide was the 14-day span between January 14–28. 2 deaths were reported on Sundays, 1 on a Monday, 3 on Tuesdays, 3 on Wednesdays, 1 on a Thursday, 3 on Fridays, and 7 on Saturdays.

One of the deaths came at the hands of police, and one reported homicide was ruled justifiable as self-defense by investigators or prosecutors. In that case murder charges were filed against an accomplice of the homicide victim rather than the shooter. None resulted from reckless driving. With the exception of those, the police department acknowledges 16 other chargeable homicides, none of which were charged as manslaughter. Suspects have been identified in 3 cases, arrested in 3 and charged in 3.

All 19 deaths so far have resulted from shootings. 3 incidents occurred at apartment complexes, 4 at private homes, 1 at a business, 2 at private parking lots, and 9 on the streets. 10 deaths were reported in the West Precinct, 2 in the East Precinct, 2 in the South Precinct and 5 in the North Precinct.

Four deaths came during altercations, one of which was apparently domestic. 8 appeared to have been targeted assaults; one took place during a robbery; 1 was carried out in self-defense; 1 was a police shooting; and 1 came from a stray bullet. The motive in 3 other deaths has not been publicized.

15 victims were male and 4 were female.

Listing by date

1. January 1: Fernando Jose Cruz-Soto, 20, died at UAB Hospital after being found shot in a parking lot after a reported early morning fight on the 300 block of 24th Street South in the Southside neighborhood. No arrest. (report)
2. January 1: Timothy Dean Pinson, 32, was found shot to death in a car at the Vida on Valley apartments on the 800 block of Cable Car Court off Valley Avenue in Glen Iris. No arrest. (report)
3. January 4: Michelle Kemp Gilder, 40, was shot to death in a vehicle on Treadwell Road near Tarrant-Huffman Road, along the northern fenceline of Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport property in Brownsville Heights. A male passenger in the same car was grazed by a bullet. No arrest. (report)
4. January 4: Leeco Whittington, 24, died at UAB Hospital from gunshot wounds suffered during an assault at the Citgo gas station at 36 South Park Road Southwest in Central Park. Two suspects fled in a silver sedan. No arrests. (report)
5. January 7: William Kenneth Kennard, 57, was found shot to death and burned near the intersection of Birmingport Road and Slayden Avenue in Sherman Heights. No arrest. (report)
6. January 8: Ed Franklin Harris, 49, was shot to death while riding a motorcycle at 16th Way Southwest and Matt Leonard Drive at the border of Powderly and Mason City. Multiple suspects abandoned a vehicle at the scene and fled on foot. No arrests. A person of interest was questioned but not charged. (report)
7. January 8: Yasmine Wright, 16, was struck and killed by a bullet from the same shooting.
8. January 12: De'Undray Nakil Haggard, 18, was shot to death on the 2900 block of John Bryan Road in the Kimbrough Homes public housing project in the Industrial Center neighborhood. A 16-year-old suspect was arrested and charged with capital murder. (report)
9. January 14: Richard Spence, 56, died at Princeton Baptist Medical Center of a gunshot wound suffered during an argument at a nearby house on the 800 block of 7th Street Southwest in Arlington-West End. Clearence Speed Jr was arrested and charged with capital murder. Speed was later also charged with the 2021 murder of 2-year-old Major Turner in Wenonah. (report)
10. January 28: Javarius Reid, 17, was shot to death on the 2900 block of 16th Street North outside the ACIPCO plant. Investigators believe he was struck by crossfire as the car he was riding in passed near a gunfight. No arrest. (report)
11. February 5: Chico Guest, 17, was shot to death by a parking lot attendant near the intersection of 10th Avenue North and 18th Street in Fountain Heights. Kambran Tremaine Young was also wounded in the shooting, that was ruled justified as self-defense during an attempted robbery. He was subsequently charged with felony murder as an accomplice in the crime that led to Guest's death. (report)
12. February 17: Felicia A. Ford, 49, was found shot to death after an apparent domestic incident at an apartment in the Cooper Green Housing Community on the 1700 block of 14th Way Southwest in Mason City. A suspect has been identified, but remains at large. (report)
13. February 19: Anthony Jackson, 46, was shot to death during an apparent attempted robbery in front of his house at 1745 33rd Street Ensley in Ensley Highlands. (report)
14. February 20: Jeremiah Collier, 16, was found shot to death in a car that rolled into a house at 5116 Court O Ensley (report)
15. February 20: Todd Lorenzo Johnson Jr, 16, and a friend of Collier's, was found shot to death near the intersection of 57th Street and Avenue P Ensley|Avenue P]]. Investigators believe he was shot while in the same car with and fell while trying to flee on foot. Another male was grazed in the hand, and a possible fourth person fled by foot.
16. February 20: Yalunda Watts Young, 43, died at UAB Hospital from gunshot wounds suffered in an assault outside the 604 Bar & Lounge at 604 9th Street North in Smithfield. No arrest. (report)
17. February 21: Joshua Isaiah Carpenter, 26, was found dead after a reported shooting outside an apartment on the 1700 block of 33rd Street North in Norwood. No arrest. (report)
18. February 22: Demetrius John-Mario Young, 30, was found shot to death inside a house on the 500 block of 83rd Place South in South East Lake. Another man was lightly wounded in a confrontation that escalated to shooting. (report)
19. February 23: An unnamed male was shot to death by a Birmingham Police officer on the 4300 block of Morris Avenue in North Avondale following a conflict that began near the intersection of 1st Avenue North and 41st Street North. The Alabama State Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the circumstances of the police shooting. (report)

See also

• List of homicides in 2022
• Birmingham homicides by year
• Crime in Birmingham

References

• Robinson, Carol (February 21, 2022) "‘We are 100 percent fed up’: Birmingham police chief, mayor address multiple teen killings." The Birmingham News