Alabama Shooting Leaves Student, Father And A Dog Dead
A tragedy out of Alabama has taken the lives of a soon-to-be college graduate, a beloved dad and one of man’s best friends following a fatal shooting in Tuscaloosa County.
A welfare check conducted on July 6 led to the discovery of 22-year-old Jazmine Alexis Bates, her friend Jose “Felix” Alvarez-Duenas, 31, and the dog he was taking care of, all deceased in the house he was watching for the friend who made the initial call.
Police were thankfully able to capture the suspect, 24-year-old De’Kendrick Crawford, at a relative’s home where he was reportedly hiding out in the attic.
RELATED: America’s 10 Worst States To Live In 2026
According to WJCL-22 ABC, Crawford is being charged with capital murder of two or more persons in addition to discharging a gun in an occupied building. Police in Brookwood got the call around 1PM to conduct a welfare check after the homeowner spotted someone suspicious from her doorbell camera while out of the country. Sadly, the homeowner’s concern for the friend who was house-sitting proved to be for good reason following the gruesome discovery.
More details in this heartbreaking story below, via WJCL-22:
“According to investigators, the homeowner had been unable to reach the house-sitter since the weekend. After accessing doorbell camera footage, the homeowner saw a man behaving suspiciously on the back porch during the late-night and early-morning hours of Sunday and contacted the landlord, who requested a welfare check.
Officers entered the home and found Jose Felix Alvarez-Duenas, 31, dead near the front entrance, sister station WVTM reports.
After clearing the residence, they discovered Jazmine Alexis Bates, 22, dead inside a bedroom closet. Bates was a student at the University of Alabama.
Investigators said both victims had been shot. The homeowner’s dog was also found dead from a gunshot wound.
Officials said Bates had just been visiting Alvarez-Duenas while he was house-sitting, and there was nothing malicious about her presence.”
Crawford was identified soon after, and the countrywide investigation that followed involving search teams, cyber investigators and even the U.S. Marshals Service led them to an extended family member’s apartment in Northport, Alabama. A four-hour tactical operation ensued after Crawford barricaded himself inside. With the help of everything from canines to tear gas, he was eventually found attempting to use an attic crawl space above the adjoining apartments as his hiding spot.
Adding an extra layer to it all, it appears everyone involved in the situation, including the homeowner, victims and suspect, all knew each other at one point as coworkers. Crawford’s arrest also led authorities to discover outstanding felony warrants dating back to an on-campus incident last month, where he let off gunshots at an occupied building near Coleman Coliseum after being fired from a contractor’s job at the University Of Alabama. He reportedly had been evading law enforcement for weeks.
What’s even more surprising is he had little criminal activity prior to this incident and the aforementioned campus gunfire. Being that he’s refused to speak with detectives, authorities have identified no motive other than confirming neither victim was responsible for their deaths.
