Victim of Wednesday Shooting in Tuscaloosa, Alabama Dies, Suspect Charged with Capital Murder
The victim of a shooting in Tuscaloosa Wednesday morning has died and the man police believe is responsible for the killing has been charged with capital murder.
Jack Kennedy, the commander of the multi-agency Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit, said officers responded to the station after a woman there said a passenger in her car had been shot and was seriously injured.
The caller drove about a half-mile back down Joe Mallisham Parkway before stopping on the side of the road, where her passenger was picked up and rushed to DCH Regional Medical Center for treatment.
Despite life-saving efforts, the shooting victim died later Wednesday morning, Kennedy said. He identified the victim as 50-year-old John Weston Horton.
Soon after the shooting, a suspect turned himself in at the Tuscaloosa County Jail. That man, 31-year-old Cornelius Rashad Jones, has been arrested and charged with capital murder. He will be held without bond, and if convicted of capital murder, will either be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility or parole or sentenced to death.
As for motive, Kennedy said the victim, Horton, was in a romantic relationship with the suspect's ex-partner, who was driving the car when Jones allegedly opened fire at the gas station. The woman was not injured in the shooting, and Kennedy said police believe anger over the new relationship pushed Jones to commit the killing.
By the count of the Tuscaloosa Thread staff, Wednesday's murder marks the 21st homicide in Tuscaloosa County so far in 2021.
For context, the VCU investigated 22 homicides last year.