A 28-year-old woman has been charged in the Saturday-night shooting death of her boyfriend.
Jamela Melton, 28, is charged with capital murder in the slaying of 32-year-old Jerry Bailey.
The charge is capital, said Officer Truman Fitzgerald, because Melton was inside a vehicle when police say she fatally shot Bailey.
Warrants against Melton were obtained Sunday. She is awaiting transfer to the Jefferson County Jail.
The city’s North Precinct officers were dispatched just before 7:30 p.m. Saturday to a call of a person shot in the 3500 block of Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard North.
Once on the scene, they found Bailey in a grassy field just off the roadway and adjacent to a trucking company. He was dead on the scene.
It appears Bailey was outside of the vehicle when Melton allegedly shot him from inside the car. Bailey was found unresponsive just feet from car.
Fitzgerald said Melton remained on the scene, and police believe she was the one who called 911.
Bailey is Birmingham’s 60th homicide of 2024. Of those, five have been ruled justifiable and therefore aren’t deemed criminal.
In all of Jefferson County, there have been 83 homicides including the 60 in Birmingham.
