Mother fatally shot at Birmingham Piggly Wiggly on Christmas Eve, suspect on the run
A shooting at a Birmingham Piggly Wiggly on 29th Avenue North left a 28-year-old female employee and mother dead on Christmas Eve. The victim has been identified as Jerika Manuel, al.com reports.
Sgt. Johnny Williams said the shooting happened shortly before noon when an unidentified person entered the store and “started an altercation” with Manuel who was then fatally shot by the suspect. Investigators say she was at the cash register when confronted by the suspect, who fled the scene before police arrived.
No arrests have been announced.
“In my mind it doesn’t matter the time of year. A life is a life. It is important to that person and that family. It is unfortunate that it happens at any point. I don’t think anyone wants this to happen at any point in the year,” says Sgt. Williams.
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“There were only those two persons involved in the altercation. Right now we do have some good witnesses we do believe in the case. We are trying to develop some information from them. It’s hard on the family. Regardless if it’s a holiday or any other time of the year,” he added.
Though the motive is not apparent there was surveillance in the store and the police are working with technicians to get that information to their detectives.
The shooting reportedly put the number of homicides in Birmingham close to triple digits for yet another year. Manuel is the city’s 105th homicide victim this year.
Anyone with information about the fatal shooting at Piggly Wiggly is asked to call Birmingham police homicide detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information is made available.
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