A man is dead after a daylight shooting Tuesday afternoon on Halls Mill Road in Mobile, and police say the circumstances that led to the gunfire remain under investigation.
Mobile Police and Mobile Fire-Rescue units responded to the 4400 block of Halls Mill Road just after 3 p.m. after a report of a person shot. When paramedics arrived, they found a man suffering from a severe gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The response drew a heavy law enforcement presence to the area. More than a dozen patrol vehicles lined both sides of Halls Mill Road as detectives combed the scene for evidence, and crime scene tape was strung across the area for much of the afternoon and evening.
Based on the placement of that tape, investigators believe the shooting happened at or near a business in the 4400 block, which sits in a stretch of Halls Mill Road lined with small commercial operations, including a tax service and an auto sales lot. Mobile Police Officer Roderick Miles, speaking with reporters at the scene, said detectives were still working to pin down precisely where on the property the shooting occurred.
“As you can see behind me, that is a tax service and an auto sales business,” Miles said. “So we don’t know what part of the business that the victim or the subject came from.”
Investigators spoke with several possible witnesses at the scene. Not long after the shooting, a person arrived at the Mobile Police Department’s Second Precinct and spoke with detectives about the incident, though police have not said whether that individual is considered a suspect, a witness, or something else. Officials said they are questioning a person as part of the investigation, but as of Tuesday evening no arrests had been announced and police had not confirmed whether they are actively searching for an outside suspect.
Halls Mill Road is a busy secondary corridor on Mobile’s south side, connecting neighborhoods and small businesses between Zeigler Boulevard and the Interstate 65 corridor. Daylight shootings in commercial areas tend to draw significant community concern, both because of the risk to bystanders and because they can leave lasting doubts about safety along a heavily traveled roadway.
The Mobile Police Department has not released the identity of the victim, pending notification of next of kin, and has not detailed what may have led to the confrontation. Homicide investigations of this kind often take days or weeks to develop as detectives review surveillance footage, interview witnesses, and build a timeline of events leading up to the shooting.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the Mobile Police Department at 251-208-7211. Tips can also be submitted anonymously by texting 844-251-0644 or by visiting mobilepd.org/crimetip. This story will be updated as Mobile police release additional information.