Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has added $5,000 from the state to the reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the shooting death of Birmingham toddler Major Turner earlier this month, WIAT reports.
The 2-year-old was lying on the couch with his mother in the evening of February 4 when someone fired nearly a dozen bullets toward the family’s first-floor apartment, as CrimeOnline previously reported. Two other children were upstairs and uninjured.
The boy was struck in the neck and was rushed to Children’s Hospital of Alabama, where he was pronounced dead at 2:45 a.m. His mother was treated and released from the hospital.
“The circumstances surrounding this crime indicate that every effort should be made to apprehend and convict the perpetrator or perpetrators,” Ivey said in the proclamation announcing the addition to the reward.
CrimeStoppers has already offered a $5,000 reward; Ivey’s boost doubles that.
No arrests have bene made in the shooting, Birmingham police said there was video evidence being used in the investigation.
The day after the shooting, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin was adamant that the crime must be solved.
“Major Turner is a 2-year-old who was struck by a bullet last night and spent a lot of hours fighting for his life. He did not make it‚” Woodfin said in a video statement, according to WVTM-TV. “I think it’s time as a community we fight for justice for him.”
Woodfin also called the perpetrators “cowards” and “punks,” according to the Birmingham News.
“The City of Birmingham has one priority and that is to bring the person or the people who shot into this home and killed this little boy to justice. They need to either turn themselves in or as a community anyone who knows or has information needs to turn that information and share that info with the Birmingham Police Department and/or Crime Stoppers,” Woodfin told reporters at a press conference on Friday.
“This is not the time to be silent. And for anybody who has information and is harboring the person or people who shot into the house, shame on you,” Woodfin added. “The person or people who did this are cowards, are punks. This is not a way to solve issues and when an innocent child is killed, do the right thing.”
To report information about the case, call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
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