82-year-old Aldorthia Burrell was caught in crossfire outside her Birmingham home; community mourns a life lost to senseless gunfire.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A 17-year-old boy has been charged with capital murder in the shooting death of 82-year-old Aldorthia Burrell, a beloved great-great-grandmother killed when she was caught in crossfire outside her Balsam Avenue home.
Police say the teen was identified through his cell phone location data, which placed him at the scene of the Sept. 3 shooting. During a preliminary hearing before Jefferson County District Judge William Bell, Birmingham homicide detective William Sipes testified that tower mapping and surveillance footage tied the teen to the deadly exchange of gunfire.
The violence erupted during what investigators believe was a drug or gun deal gone wrong near Burrell’s home. Standing in the doorway of her enclosed porch, Burrell was struck in the head by a stray bullet.
Her daughter, Audrey Burrell, said they had spent the day running errands and were fixing the porch when the shots rang out. “She came and brought me a little pink pillow and told me to sit on it,” Audrey recalled. “Moments later, she was gone.”
Detectives linked the teen to the scene through cell tower data, money transfer records, and video of a Chrysler 300seen nearby. A search warrant at his home uncovered a teal-colored gun matching witness descriptions.
Defense attorney Emory Anthony argued the teen fired in self-defense after being robbed at gunpoint, but Judge Bell ruled there was enough evidence to send the case to a grand jury.
Neighbors remember Burrell as a kind, Bible-reading woman devoted to her family — a reminder, they say, of how easily violence shatters even the safest corners of Birmingham.