By John Sharp
Grace Carter was attending her Tuesday night Bible study class at Everlasting Life Holiness Church three days after Christmas in 2021 when witnesses said they thought she had gone into cardiac arrest.
Instead, the 65-year-old Mobile woman was found shot in the chest from gunfire outside the Prichard church. She died an innocent victim, killed by a 27-year-old woman firing a gun outside.
“It was where my mother went practically every Tuesday,” said Dee Carter, who started up the Amazing Grace Foundation focused on gun violence following her mother’s death. “(The shooter) was out driving around and attempting to shoot someone else. My mother left home that day and she never came back.”
Grace Carter is not alone, and officials in Mobile County are hoping increased penalties against people who shoot at occupied and unoccupied buildings and vehicles will stop a deadly trend.
State legislation in the form of HB174, was unveiled during a news conference Monday at Mobile’s Government Plaza, that would elevate the felony charges for someone convicted of discharging a firearm at occupied and unoccupied dwellings or vehicles.
If the bill becomes law, both offenses would be punishable under the most serious felonies in Alabama, and on par with murder.
“These senseless murders of innocent people have got to stop,” said State Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, sponsor of the bill filed on Friday. “The only tool I have is to change the law.”
Under the proposed legislation, shooting into an occupied building or vehicle would go from a Class B to a Class A felony while shooting into an unoccupied building or vehicle would go from a Class C felony to a Class A.
A Class A offense in Alabama includes murder, kidnapping, rape, robbery, and arson. Punishment ranges from 10 to 99 years in prison with fines up to $60,000.
“We find that many perpetrators, they don’t know who is behind that wall and whether (the building) is occupied or unoccupied,” Drummond said. “One thing is striking to me is that when they shoot up these homes, they do not intend for anyone to live. And it’s not only these innocent individuals who are dying, but families are terrorized.”
Drummond was flanked by Republican Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch and Police Chief Paul Prine who voiced support for the bill they see as a solution toward resolving a troubling trend of indiscriminate shootings that lead to tragedies.
The most recent high-profile example occurred Jan. 15, on Interstate 165. A 15-year-old girl, who was the passenger in a SUV, was shot and killed during a rolling shootout that also left a 9-year-old wounded.
A month earlier, 9-year-old Cailee Knight was shot and killed by a bullet while sleeping on a couch inside her home on Rhett Drive. Authorities said that people with high-powered weapons drove by the home and opened fire.
A near tragedy occurred around 1 p.m. on Sunday, following a shooting at St. Stephens Road and Jones Street in Mobile. A 10-year-old girl, who was a passenger in the backseat of a vehicle that was shot at, was grazed by a bullet and sent to a hospital for treatment.
“It’s got to stop,” Prine said. “I think when you look up here now you see a concerted effort of the community coming together for the same cause. We are for saving lives.”
Drummond said she was uncertain about how HB174 will be handled in a Legislature that is supermajority Republican, and which voted to support permitless carry two years ago despite objections from law enforcement.
But Drummond said she has already gathered some Republican support for her measure and is hopeful it can get a hearing soon in a legislative committee.
Rep. Mark Shirey, R-Mobile, the bill is not a Second Amendment matter, but is focused on public safety.
Shirey said the legislation could be amended to address the Class A felony for shooting into an unoccupied building – which is the same offense for shooting into an occupied dwelling under HB174.
But he said the legislation is needed amid a growing number of alarming incidences.
“If you’re shooting into a building, you don’t know if there is anyone in there or not,” he said. “And if you shoot into a building, you don’t care. You don’t know know if it’s occupied or not. And you have the exact same intent.”
Burch said the principle behind HB174 is to make an arrest and conviction on someone shooting into a building – occupied or not – before they commit a murder.
“That’s the principle behind it, to catch them early, lock them up and prevent a murder.”
Nikklos Kidd, CEO of the Mobile-based non-profit Measure of a Man project, said if lawmakers can apply mandatory-minimum for possession small amounts of fentanyl – which they approved last spring – then they can apply harsher penalties for shooting up buildings and vehicles.
“Why would you shoot into someone’s home not caring who is behind the wall?” Kidd said. “At what point do we say, ‘enough is enough.’”
Mobile City Council President C.J. Small said the legislation could help eliminate a problem he said is hurting Mobile’s reputation.
“It’s a small population who is making this problem look big,” Small said. “We’ll do everything we can to cease this from happening so people can feel safe going to church, the MoonPie drop (on New Year’s Eve), and Mardi Gras parades and enjoy the quality of life.”
For the family of Grace Carter, the hope is that the legislation can help save lives.
“These things are senseless,” said Dee Carter. “We need better laws to prevent innocent families from suffering like mine.”