Tuscaloosa Woman Charged with Firing Shot that Struck 2 Children During Argument

A 31-year-old Tuscaloosa woman has been charged with firing a shot that wounded two children earlier this month, according to new court documents filed Thursday.

Police were made aware of the shooting on January 10th, when a woman rushed her two boys, who are 8 and 10, to DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa to be treated for gunshot wounds.

Get our free mobile app

The mother of the two victims told officers that she and a friend had been involved in an argument with several people earlier in the evening and that hours later at a second location, she was confronted by a group of people.

Investigators said during this second altercation, a single shot was fired. The bullet entered the mother's vehicle, and both children inside were injured.

They were transported from DCH to Children's of Alabama hospital in Birmingham, and police said earlier this month that both children are expected to recover from their wounds.

Weeks after the shooting, investigators with the multi-agency Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit have charged 31-year-old Tamela Shayla Banks with three felonies -- two counts of second-degree assault and one count of discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle.

In a deposition detailing the arrest, investigators said Banks and her mother were involved in the night's first incident and later found the victim in her car with the boys outside her grandmother's house on 20th Street in Tuscaloosa.

Tamela Banks allegedly fired a single shot into the vehicle, which injured both children.

Court records indicate Banks was arrested Wednesday and placed in the Tuscaloosa County Jail. Each of the three felony charges carried a bond of $15,000, and the woman's combined bond was set at $45,000.

Banks was no longer listed as an inmate at the jail Friday afternoon and may have been released on bond.