A 45-year-old man has been arrested in the shooting of two people and the abduction of a child in Bessemer last week.
Demetrice Alphonzo Smith is charged with first-degree domestic violence, attempted murder, second-degree kidnapping, first-degree burglary, discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling and menacing.
The shooting happened at 5:54 a.m. Thursday at a home in the 1300 block of Fairfax Avenue.
Bessemer police Det. Justin Burmeister said officers arrived to find the two victims – a man and woman – wounded. Both were able to talk to police on the scene before they were transported to the hospital.
They are recovering.
While officers were at scene, a citizen found the woman’s 7-year-old two blocks away. The child was brought back to the residence and is with other family members.
Investigators initially weren’t sure whether the child had been taken or had run from the house when the shooting started but Burmeister said they determined the child had been taken by the suspect.
The suspect is not the child’s father, he said.
Authorities have not released a motive or the relationship between the suspect and the victims. The female victim does know the suspect.
Smith was booked into the Jefferson County Jail at 10:14 a.m. Monday. His bonds total $123,000.
Anyone with additional information is asked to call police at 205-481-4366, 425-2411, the tip line at 205-428-3541 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
