A makeshift memorial and hand-written tribute on the pavement marked the site of Prichard’s third fatal shooting in a week, as investigators continued searching for leads in a case that has left the community on edge.
A 29-year-old man was shot twice, in the head and torso, near St. Stephens Woods Apartments and died at the scene. City officials said the investigation remained active days later, with no motive established and no suspects identified. Philip Stiell, chief of staff to Prichard Mayor Troy Ephriam, said police were pursuing every lead available, including tips from residents in the surrounding community.
“We pursue all angles, all leads,” Stiell said. “We certainly ask anyone with any information to come forward. We want to know who saw what, who said what.”
The killing marked the third fatal shooting to hit Prichard within a matter of days. Earlier the same week, a 19-year-old man was found dead of a single gunshot wound to the head in an open field; a 21-year-old man was later charged with murder in that case. Days before that, a separate shooting left another Prichard man dead of multiple gunshot wounds, a case city officials said remains under active investigation with no additional details released.
A community vigil was planned at St. Stephens Woods Apartments for the most recent victim, reflecting the toll the string of shootings has taken on residents of the complex and the surrounding neighborhood. Stiell said community members had already come forward with some information, though nothing had yet led to an arrest in the most recent case.
St. Stephens Woods Apartments has drawn heightened attention from Prichard police in recent months, having also been connected to a high-profile case involving a missing child from the same complex whose case remains unsolved. Stiell said investigators were working to determine whether the most recent shooting had any connection to that earlier case, though he stressed no link had been established.
The cluster of shootings has intensified pressure on Prichard’s police department to identify patterns or connections between the cases as the investigations continue. City officials continued to urge anyone with information about any of the incidents to contact Prichard police, emphasizing that even small details from residents could prove significant in building a case.