A 51-year-old suspect has been charged in the weekend ambush killing of a man at a Birmingham gas station.
Byron Dedric Steele, of Birmingham, is charged with capital murder in the Sunday evening slaying of 25-year-old Demetrius Antwan Davis Jr.
Police said the deadly shooting was carried out in retaliation for a previous incident in which a family member of the suspect was shot.
Steele was booked into the Birmingham City Jail at 3:09 p.m. Monday. The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office issued warrants against him on Tuesday.
Davis Jr. was gunned down at the Circle K on Tallapoosa Street while he was pumping gas. His death came nearly five years after his father killed at a gas station on the city’s west side, which also happened on a Sunday.
Davis Jr. previously played football at UAB.
Officer Truman Fitzgerald said police were dispatched to the business at 6 p.m. Sunday on a report of a person shot. They arrived on the scene to find Davis Jr. unresponsive in the parking lot.
Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service pronounced him dead on the scene.
Fitzgerald said the suspect approached the victim and opened fire. The victim’s vehicle was parked at a gas pump with the gas nozzle still in his tank.
“From evidence on the scene, it would appear that the victim did return fire,” Fitzgerald said.
Davis Jr. is one of eight people killed in eight days in the city.
“This is to bring no shame to our victims from Sunday, but since Sunday, our detectives have uncovered that the victims in each homicide case have been involved in some type of activity prior to the homicide which contributed heavily to their death,’’ Fitzgerald said while at the scene of a Tuesday morning homicide.
“And that’s not to victim shame,’’ he said. “We want to get the message out to the public that we have to be really mindful of our behavior because we have seen just the lengths people will go to target you if they have something out for you.”
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