BREAKING: Two Dead, Two Jailed in Separate Murders in Tuscaloosa
Two people are dead and two have been arrested after separate murders in Tuscaloosa during the New Year's Eve weekend.
Captain Jack Kennedy, the commander of the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit, said police were called to Hodo Haven Apartments on 33rd Street East in Tuscaloosa a few minutes before midnight Saturday.
A 16-year-old there had been shot and killed, and police are not releasing the victim's identity publicly.
After a brief investigation, VCU agents arrested a juvenile suspect under the age of 16 and charged them with murder. Alabama law forbids police from releasing much information about juvenile offenders, so the VCU did not identify the suspect.
Kennedy said police do not believe the shooting was related to another murder earlier in December at Hodo Haven Apartments.
Hours after the first killing was investigated, police were called to Brookhaven Apartments on James I. Harrison Parkway to respond to a separate shooting.
26-year-old Deshawn Tanthony Eatmon was dead at the scene, Kennedy said, and the VCU launched its first homicide investigation of 2023.
It concluded quickly, as police identified 37-year-old Michael Terrell Charles as their suspect in the killing.
Charles was located, arrested and charged with one count of murder and committed to jail with a $1,000,000 bond.
Kennedy said the two murders occurred separately and are not believed to be linked in any way.
All Homicides Investigated in Tuscaloosa County in 2022